Sale: Triton VIII, Lot: 974. Estimate $2000.  Closing Date: Monday, 10 January 2005.  Sold For $2100. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Cn. Domitius Calvinus. 39 BC. AR Denarius (3.78 gm, 1h). Osca mint. OSCA behind, head of Hercules right, wearing necklace / DOM. COS. ITER. IMP, simpulum, sprinkler, axe, and apex (priest's hat). Crawford 532/1; CRI 342; Sydenham 1358; Kestner 3819; BMCRR Spain 109; Burgos 1509. EF, wonderful head of Hercules. Rare in this condition. ($2000)

Cn. Domitius Calvinus was appointed governor of Spain by Octavian after that province was ceded by Sextus Pompey, son of Pompey the Great. The province was in a state of chaos after years of civil war and the rule by Sextus, who governed as little more than a brigand. The stern Calvinus, formerly magister equitum under Caesar, pacified the province, putting down a revolt by the Ceretani, although not before subjecting a legionary detachment to the ancient punishment of decimation (executing one out of ten men) for cowardice in the face of the enemy. The minting of these denarii, probably at Osca itself, marks the restoration of Roman order in Spain and the renewed flow of Spanish silver to the Roman treasury.