Titus. AD 79-81. AV Aureus (19mm, 7.27 g, 6h). Rome mint. Struck after 1 July AD 79. EF.

Triton XXVI
Lot: 739. Estimated: $ 20 000

Roman Imperial, Coin-in-Hand Video, Gold

Sold For $ 20 000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Go to Live

Titus. AD 79-81. AV Aureus (19mm, 7.27 g, 6h). Rome mint. Struck after 1 July AD 79. IMP TITVS CAES VESPASIAN AVG P M, laureate head left / TR P VIIII IMP XIIII COS VII, Venus, seen half from behind, naked to the hips, standing right, right knee bent, resting left elbow on column, holding helmet up in right hand and transverse spear in left. RIC II.1 14 var. (shield against column); Calicó 756 var. (head right); cf. BMCRE 4; BN –; Adda –; Biaggi –; Jameson –; Mazzini 267 var. (head right). Lustrous, minor hairlines. EF. Unpublished and unique with head left.

This charming reverse type, depicting the goddess Venus, leaning on a column, holding a scepter and helmet, with her half-covered derriere turned coyly to the viewer, is rather unusual for a male ruler. Indeed, the same reverse was also used on coins of Titus’ daughter, Julia Titi, in the next reign by his brother’s wife, Domitia, and ultimately by Julia Domna, but never again by a Roman emperor. Venus was supposedly progenitor of the Julian clan and was thus employed by Caesar on his coinage, and by later emperors as well, although on male issues she usually appears fully clothed as Venus Victrix. Titus, a military man but with an eye for art and beauty, perhaps was captivated by a statue depicting Venus Callipyge (”Venus of the beautiful buttocks”) and ordered that a variant image be employed as a reverse type for his coinage and that of his daughter. While relatively common in Titus’ silver, it is quite rare in gold. This example, with a left-facing portrait, appears to be unique.

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 Three – Lots 674-990 will be held Wednesday morning, 11 January 2023 beginning at 9:00 AM 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.