Sale: CNG 67, Lot: 1371. Estimate $2000.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 22 September 2004.  Sold For $3250. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

TITUS, as Caesar. 69-79 AD. Æ Sestertius (24.66 gm). Judaea Capta issue. Rome mint. Struck 72 AD. T CAESAR VESPASIAN IMP III PON TR POT II COS [II], laureate and cuirassed bust right; cuirass decorated with aegis / Titus, radiate, standing left, foot on prow of galley, holding spear and extending Victory to Jew and Jewess before, both with arms extended; palm tree behind Jewess. RIC II 638 var. (Vespasian; IMP IIII); Hendin 791; BMCRE 652 var. (Vespasian; same); Cohen 234 var. (same). Fine, dark red-brown patina with trace of green undertones, light porosity on reverse. Extremely rare. ($2000)

From the Tony Hardy Collection.

When Vespasian was proclaimed emperor by the legions in the East in 69 AD, he left his son Titus to quell the Jewish uprising led by the Zealots, John of Gischala and Simon bar Giora. Titus accomplished the task in 70 AD, and in the following year, Vespasian, Titus, and Domitian celebrated a splendid triumph in Rome. Several different reverse types were employed on the coinage of the Flavians to commemorate the triumph: this particular type is unique in its depiction of the conquered Jews. Similar types show figures in an attitude of despair, such as a woman with her head bowed in mourning and man with his limbs bound. This reverse, though, shows two figures stretching their arms out to the victorious Titus, either in supplication or adulation. Perhaps these figures represent the non-Jewish inhabitants of Judaea welcoming the restoration of Roman order in the province.