The Deified Julius Caesar

CNG 111, Lot: 651. Estimate $1000. Sold for $1250. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Augustus, with Divus Julius Caesar. 27 BC-AD 14. AR Denarius (19.5mm, 3.31 g, 8h). Rome mint; M. Sanquinius, moneyer. Struck 17 BC. Bare head of Augustus 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). Good VF, toned, surface marks and light porosity.

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 first identification.