Triton XXII, Lot: 1044. Estimate $3000. Sold for $2750. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Vitellius. AD 69. AV Aureus (18.5mm, 6.96 g, 6h). Rome mint. Struck circa late April–20 December AD 69. Λ VITELLIVS GERM IMP ΛVG TR P, laureate head right / L VITELLIVS COS III CENSOR, L. Vitellius, the father of Vitellius, togate, seated left on curule chair, with feet on stool, extending right hand and holding eagle-tipped scepter with left. RIC I 94; Calicó 565b; BMCRE 23; BN 54-5; Biaggi 281. Fine, some marks and scratches, light scrape across portrait.

From the Heath Collection. Ex Classical Numismatic Group Electronic Auction 54 (4 December 2002), lot 112.

On the reverse of this coin, the new emperor Aulus Vitellius honors his far more successful and capable father, Lucius Vitellius. Among the accomplishments of the senior Vitellius were marriage to the daughter of Octavia, removal of Pontius Pilate as governor of Judaea, and sharing the consulate with the emperor Claudius in AD 43. Claudius even left him in charge of Rome while he was occupied with the conquest of Britain.