Everlasting Security – Ex Williams Collection

CNG 111, Lot: 763. Estimate $10000. Sold for $15000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Caracalla. AD 198-217. AV Aureus (20mm, 6.89 g, 6h). Rome mint. Struck AD 212-213. ANTONINVS PIVS AVG BRIT, laureate head right / SECVRITATI PERPETVAE, Securitas, draped, seated right on throne, resting head on right hand, propped on throne, and holding scepter in left; garlanded altar to right. RIC IV 229a; Calicó 2813; BMCRE 101 (same rev. die); Biaggi 1218; Jameson –; Mazzini –. EF, high-relief portrait in fine style.

From the Brexit Collection. Ex William H. Williams Collection (Numismatica Ars Classica 31, 26 October 2005), lot 75; Classical Numismatic Review XXII.2 (Spring / Summer 1997), no. 18; Giessener Munzhandlung 81 (3 March 1997), lot 758.

The Roman populace would certainly have welcomed the restoration of “Everlasting Peace and Security” proclaimed on the reverse of this attractive aureus, issued by Caracalla circa AD 212. Its issue came soon after Caracalla’s murder of his younger brother and co-emperor, Geta, and the bloody purge of his supporters, which had filled the capital with chaos and dread. Awful as these events were, they finally settled a horrific sibling rivalry, which had threatened to tear the Roman Empire apart, and allowed at least a semblance of order and prosperity to return.