Victoria Germanica

Sale: Triton X, Lot: 676. Estimate $10000.  Closing Date: Monday, 8 January 2007.  Sold For $14000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Caracalla. AD 198-217. AV Aureus (7.46 g, 1h). Rome mint. Struck AD 213. ANTONINVS PIVS FEL AVG, laureate and cuirassed bust right / VICTORIA GERMANICA, Victory advancing right, holding trophy in left hand over left shoulder and wreath in extended right hand. RIC IV 237 var. (bust type); Calicó 2833; BMCRE 64 var. (break in rev. legend); Cohen 645 var. (bust type). EF, lustrous, shallow scratches in right field on reverse, light edge marks. Outstanding portrait.

This military reverse type is a direct reference to Caracalla's campaigns against the Alemanni, a confederation of Germanic tribes. Caracalla claimed a great military success against these tribes, and was subsequently awarded the title Germanicus Maximus by the Senate. In reality, peace was achieved through the establishment of regular subsidies which kept the tribes pacified, a success of propaganda that was becoming more common in the Empire. The reverse type closely imitates a popular victory type that was first used on sestertii of Trajan, commemorating his victorious Dacian campaigns (cf. RIC II 534).