Sale: CNG 63, Lot: 1194. Estimate $15000.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 21 May 2003.  Sold For $21000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

OCTAVIAN and JULIUS CAESAR. 43 BC. AV Aureus (8.06 gm). Military mint travelling with Octavian in Italy. Bare head of Octavian right / Laureate head of Caesar right. Crawford 490/2; CRI 132; Sydenham 1321; Bahrfeldt 28. VF, reverse slightly off-center, usual small field marks. Very rare Julius Caesar portrait in Gold. Only five specimens recorded by both Bahrfeldt and Crawford. ($15,000)

In the summer of 43 BC, following the battle of Mutina, Octavian demanded from the Senate one of the consulships recently left vacant by the deaths of Hirtius and Pansa. When the Senate refused, Octavian marched into Rome and organized consular elections. This issue, struck by Octavian after he became consul on 19 August, marks the first appearance of a portrait on a Roman aureus.