Sale: CNG 66, Lot: 1389. Estimate $6000.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 19 May 2004.  Sold For $5250. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

VITELLIUS. 69 AD. AV Aureus (7.09 gm). Rome mint. Struck April-December 69 AD. Laureate head right / Lucius Vitellius Pater seated left on curule chair, holding branch and eagle-tipped sceptre. RIC I 94; BMCRE 23 note; Cohen 54. Near VF, underlying luster. ($6000)

On this coin, Aulus Vitellius honors his far more capable father, Lucius Vitellius. Among the accomplishments of the senior Vitellius were his marriage to the daughter of Octavia, the removal of Pontius Pilate as governor of Judaea, and a consulship he shared with the emperor Claudius in 43 AD. Claudius left Lucius Vitellius in charge of Rome when he left to conquer the British.