The Triumvirs. Octavian. 42 BC. AV Aureus (20mm, 8.12 g, 6h). Rome mint; L. Mussidius Longus, moneyer. VF.

Triton XXVI
Lot: 669. Estimated: $ 20 000

Roman Republican, Coin-in-Hand Video, Gold

Sold For $ 14 000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Go to Live

The Triumvirs. Octavian. 42 BC. AV Aureus (20mm, 8.12 g, 6h). Rome mint; L. Mussidius Longus, moneyer. Bare head right; C • CAeÍAr • iii • uir • r • p • C around / Cornucopia tied with fillets; L • ÂuÍÍiDiuÍ above, LONguÍ below. Crawford 494/15; CRI 153; Sydenham 1101; Bahrfeldt 43 (same dies as illustration); Calicó 140 (same dies as illustration); Biaggi 73 (same dies); BMCRR Rome 4231; Kestner –; RBW –. A few minor marks. VF. Extremely rare.

Ex Gadoury (16 November 2018), lot 36.

This rare aureus is among the first gold portrait pieces to depict Octavian by himself, and was struck by the moneyer Lucius Mussidius Longus, a loyal supporter of his uncle and patron Julius Caesar. His nomen Mussidius indicates that he was a novus homo, or up-and-coming man with no long family pedigree. Nevertheless, the made the most of his appointment as moneyer and his output of gold and silver coins in 43-42 BC was prodigious, including several issues with Republican types, three with Octavian’s portrait, two each of Mark Antony and Lepidus, and one depicting the soon-to-be-deified Caesar. Mussidius continued to strike coins for Antony until 37 BC, and seems to have been appointed proconsul of Sicily under Augustus. A distant relation, T. Mussidius Pollianus, was a senator under the new regime in the first century AD.

The final winners of all Triton XXVI lots will be determined at the live public sale that will be held on 10-11 January 2023.

Triton XXVI – Session Two – Lot 335-673 will be held Tuesday afternoon, 10 January 2023 beginning at 2:00 PM ET.

Winning bids are subject to a 22.5% buyer's fee for bids placed on this website and 25% for all others.

We recognize that our users may have various Internet Browsers and Operating Systems. We like our visitors to have the best possible experience when using our bidding platform. However, we do recognize that it is impossible to develop applications that work identically, efficiently and effectively on all web browsers. The CNG bidding platform supports the latest stable major version and stable previous version of Chrome and Firefox.