Sale: Triton IX, Lot: 1283. Estimate $7500.  Closing Date: Monday, 9 January 2006.  Sold For $11000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

[Roman Moneyer Issues] L. Manlius Torquatus and L. Cornelius Sulla. 82 BC. AV Aureus (10.43 g, 6h). Military mint moving with Sulla. L. MANLI before, PRO. Q. behind, head of Roma right, wearing winged helmet with peaked visor, cruciform earring and necklace, hair in three locks / L. SVLLA. IM in exergue, Sulla, togate, driving triumphal quadriga right, holding branch in right hand, reins in left; above, Victory flying left crowning Sulla with laurel wreath. Crawford 367/4; Sydenham 756; BMCRR (East) 5; Bahrfeldt 13; Calicó 16. EF, lustrous, struck from a totally shattered obverse die. Exceptional reverse. Very rare. ($7500)

As consul for the year 88 BC, Sulla was awarded the coveted assignment of suppressing the revolt of Mithradates VI of Pontus, but political maneuvers resulted in this assignment being transferred to Marius. In response, Sulla turned his army on Rome, captured it, and reclaimed his command against Mithradates. His prosÉcution of the first Mithradatic War was successful, but he spared the Pontic king for personal gain. In 83 BC, Sulla returned to Italy as an outlaw, but he was able to win the support of many of the leading Romans. Within a year he fought his way to Rome, where he was elected dictator. It was during this campaign to Rome that this aureus was struck. The obverse type represents Sulla's claim to be acting in Rome's best interest. The reverse shows Sulla enjoying the highest honor to which a Roman could aspire, the celebration of a triumph at Rome. The continued use of a broken obverse die reflects the realities of a military mint on the move and suggests either that time was of the essence or that engravers were in short supply.