Sale: Triton IX, Lot: 1509. Estimate $15000.  Closing Date: Monday, 9 January 2006.  Sold For $16000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

SEPTIMIUS SEVERUS, with CARACALLA. 193-211 AD. AV Aureus (7.24 g, 12h). Struck 202 AD. IMPP INVICTI PII AVGG, jugate busts of Septimius and Caracalla right, both laureate, draped, and cuirassed / VICTORIA PARTHICA MAXIMA, Victory advancing left, holding wreath in extended right hand, palm cradled in left arm. RIC IV 311; Calicó 2597; BMCRE 265; Cohen 8. EF, underlying lustre, light mark in field on obverse. Very rare. ($15,000)

Septimius' Parthian campaign reached its climax in 198 AD, with the capture of the Parthian capital of Ctesiphon. On this occasion Septimius was acclaimed imperator for the eleventh time, and he received the title Parthicus Maximus. His victorious campaign was celebrated on the coinage over the next few years, and an arch was erected in Rome in commemoration of the event in 203 AD. Septimius elevated Caracalla, who was with him in the east, to joint augustus in 198 AD, in the aftermath of his great eastern triumph. Mattingly, who ascribes this issue to 201-202 AD, and Kent remark that this rare issue was merely an issue promoting the nascent dynasty. The obverse legend 'Our Good Invincible Emperors' combined with the commemorative reverse does not suggest a special occasion for the issue, but the jugate-busts, however, may refer to the joint consulship held by Septimius and Caracalla in while still in the east 202 AD.