68, Lot: 248. Estimate $100. Sold for $106. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Cn. Plancius. 55 BC. AR Denarius (17 mm, 4.13 gm). Head of Diana right, wearing petasus, earring, and necklace / Cretan goat standing right; bow and quiver behind. Crawford 432/1; Sydenham 933; Plancia 1. VF, obverse a little soft. 

Cn. Plancius first served as propraetor in Africa under A. Torquatus and then in Crete in 68 BC under Q. Metellus. In 62 BC he was a military tribune in the army of C. Antonius in Macedonia and in 56 BC was quaestor of Macedonia. Cn. Plancius became friends with Cicero, and in 55 BC, after being elected to the curule aedileship, was defended by Cicero against charges of election corruption. The obverse and reverse types refer to his activities in Macedonia and Crete.