Sale: CNG 73, Lot: 871. Estimate $3000.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 13 September 2006.  Sold For $6050. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Titus. AD 79-81. AV Aureus (7.24 g, 8h). Rome mint. Struck AD 80. Laureate head left / Trophy; to left, captive in mourning; to right, bound captive. Cf. RIC II 21b (denarius); Calicó 778. VF, a few scuffs. Very rare type with head left.

This aureus commemorates Agricola's victory in Britain at the river Tay, for which Titus was proclaimed imperator for the fifteenth time. Beginning in 77 AD, Gnaeus Iulius Agricola, then legate of Britannia, began expanding Roman control over the rest of the island. He pushed northward into Scotland and defeated the Caledonians at Mons Graupius in 83 AD. His successes, however, incurred the jealousy of Domitian, who recalled and then exiled him.