Sale: Triton VII, Lot: 898. Estimate $500.  Closing Date: Monday, 12 January 2004.  Sold For $950. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

TITUS. 79-81 AD. AR Denarius (3.47 gm). Struck January-July 80 AD. IMP TITVS CAES VESPASIAN AVG P M, laureate head right / TR P IX IMP XV COS VIII P P, at base of trophy, Britannia seated left in attitude of mourning and bound British captive seated right. RIC II 21a; BMCRE 37; BN 34; RSC 306. EF. ($500)

This denarius commemorates Agricola's victory in Britain at the river Tay, for which Titus was proclaimed imperator for the fifteenth time. Beginning in 77 AD, Gnaeus Iulius Agricola, then legate of Britannia, began expanding Roman control over the rest of the island. He pushed northward into Scotland and defeated the Caledonians at Mons Graupius in 83 AD. His successes, however, incurred the jealousy of Domitian, who recalled and then exiled him.