Sale: CNG 67, Lot: 3. Estimate $200.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 22 September 2004.  Sold For $350. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

CELTIC, Central Europe. The Ausci? Circa 65-50 BC. AR Denarius (3.77 gm). Laureate head of Jupiter right, with long curl of hair to the back / Charioteer in wild quadriga right, throwing up his hands; AVCILE in exergue. CCCBM II -; Kostial -; de la Tour -. VF, lightly toned. ($200)

The prototypes for this imitative denarius appear to be the Roman Republican issues of L. Procilius (Crawford 379) for the obverse and L. Naevius Balbus (Crawford 382) for the reverse. The obverse exergual legend may simply be a corrupted version of the legend of the original type, or it may follow the format of the denarii of the Eravisci (cf. CCCBM I 273) and reveal the name of a Celtic tribe. The Ausci (or Osi) dwelt in the headlands of the upper Danube, around the present day border between Austria and Hungary, before moving westward and settling in southern France. No coinage has heretofore been attributed to this tribe.