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Augustus. 27 BC-AD 14. AV Aureus (21mm, 7.90 g, 6h). Lugdunum (Lyon) mint. Struck 11-10 BC. AVGVSTVS DIVI • F, laureate head right / IMP XII across field, SICIL in small letters in exergue, Diana as huntress, wearing long tunic, wearing low polos on head, advancing right, drawing with right hand an arrow from quiver slung behind her and holding bow in left. RIC I 196; Calicó 234; Bahrfelt 219; BMCRE 489; BN 1437; Biaggi 122 (this coin). Minor marks, slight edge bend. Near EF. Well centered and struck on a very broad flan. Bold portrait. The finer of two in CoinArchives.
From the PLZ Collection. Ex Numismatica Ars Classica 51 (5 March 2009), lot 160; Numismatica Ars Classica 27 (12 May 2004), lot 299; Reportedly ex Franz Trau Collection (Gilhofer & Ranschburg – A. Hess, 22 May 1935), lot 97 (no photograph; there noted as having been found in Reggio in 1873).
I love this aureus with its "action figure" depiction of Diana drawing an arrow from her quiver on the reverse. Fabulous provenance. (PLZ)
Gaius Octavius, widely known as Octavian, was born on 23 September 63 BC to Atia of the Julii, Julius Caesar’s niece. He was thus the grandnephew of Caesar, who had no male children of his own with a Roman woman. In 45 BC, Octavian traveled with Caesar on his military campaign in Spain, where he obviously endeared himself to his powerful relation. He was away from Rome, in Illyricum, when Caesar was assassinated on March 14, 44 BC. He soon learned Caesar had adopted him in his will and named him his principal heir. Still only 18, he took the name Gaius Julius Caesar and quickly embarked for Rome to claim his legacy. To say his following political machinations were brilliantly implemented would assuredly be an understatement.
Unfortunately for the Roman Empire, what followed Caesar’s death were 13 more years of civil war. Rome was still reeling from Caesar’s seemingly endless campaigns and longed for a respite, but the clashes of the Second Triumvirate with the assassins of Caesar and their adherents would further weary the citizenry. Eventually it came down to Octavian and Mark Antony vying for sole supremacy. For the better part of a decade, Octavian wrestled with the challenges of managing the Italian peninsula while Antony dallied in the east with Cleopatra. War broke out in 32 BC; the final battle of Actium, in 31 BCE, was a huge naval clash, with Octavian winning through the invaluable help of his closest friend and advisor, Marcus Agrippa. All that remained was to determine how Octavian would transition from Caesarean sole rule to a form of autocracy that was supported, or at least tolerated, by the Roman Senate. Once again, his skill in managing this transition was masterly and, in 27 BC, the senate granted him virtually unlimited control over the empire along with the unprecedented title of Augustus (“revered one”).
Many challenges remained for Rome’s first true emperor. Settlement of troops, rebuilding across Rome and the provinces, and once and for all retrieving the lost standards of Crassus. Augustus, in his own words, is said to “have found Rome in brick but left it in marble.” What had been a merciless time of civil war during his early years ended with him setting the style for how an emperor was expected to perform. Almost every emperor after him would seek to emulate Augustus in one form or another. Perhaps no man was more suited to set the stage for Imperial Rome.
A mark of the Augustan “Golden Age” was his clever use of the arts, including coinage, to further his public image. With few exceptions, his divinely handsome features never changed or aged over the course of his long reign, and a multiplicity of reverse types proclaimed his program to the Roman people.
The coin offered here is quite rare and easily the finest of its type to appear in Coin Archives. Struck from masterfully engraved dies, the idealized portrait of Augustus is sublime. The reverse personification of Sicily is both artistic and informative, celebrating one of Rome’s principal breadbaskets. This concept of honoring the provinces would be greatly expanded by Hadrian as seen later in this catalog.
The final winners of all CNG Feature Auction 132 lots will be determined at the live online sale that will be held on 18-19 May 2026.
CNG Feature Auction 132 – Session One – Lot 1-318 will be held Monday morning, 18 May 2026 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.
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