Deified and Rejuvenated Julius Caesar

Triton XXII, Lot: 986. Estimate $5000. Sold for $4500. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Augustus, with Divus Julius Caesar. 27 BC-AD 14. AR Denarius (19mm, 3.24 g, 9h). Rome mint; M. Sanquinius, moneyer. Struck 17 BC. AVGVSTVS DIVI • F counterclockwise from lower right, bare head of Augustus right / M • SANQVI NIVS • III • VIR clockwise from upper right, youthful, laureate head of deified Julius Caesar right; above, a comet with four rays and a tail. RIC I 338; RSC 1 (Julius Caesar and Augustus); BMCRR Rome 4585-7 = BMCRE 71-3; BN 279. Choice EF, toned. Rare.

Ex Gorny & Mosch 244 (6 March 2017), lot 456; Künker 89 (8 March 2004), lot 2025.

The idealized head on the reverse has been variously identified as a deified and rejuvenated Julius Caesar, Augustus himself, or a male personification of the dawning Golden Age. The presence of a comet above the head, likely intended as the “Julian star” that appeared shortly after Caesar’s death, argues for the former identification.