Julia Titi. Augusta, AD 79-90/1. AR Denarius (18mm, 3.51 g, 6h). Rome mint. Struck under Titus, AD 80-81.

CNG Feature Auction 118
Lot: 1040. Estimated: $ 2 000

Roman Imperial, Coin-in-Hand Video, Silver

Sold For $ 3 250. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

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Julia Titi. Augusta, AD 79-90/1. AR Denarius (18mm, 3.51 g, 6h). Rome mint. Struck under Titus, AD 80-81. Diademed and draped bust right; hair in long plait / Venus, seen half from behind, naked to the hips, standing right, resting elbow on column, holding transverse scepter and crested helmet. RIC II.1 388 (Titus); RSC 14. Beautifully toned, some faint hairlines under tone. Near EF.

From the Thomas A. Palmer Collection, purchased from Classical Numismatic Group, August 1995. Ex Leu 59 (17 May 1994), lot 264; Leu 45 (26 May 1988), lot 323.

Flavia Julia Titi was born in AD 65 as the daughter of Titus Flavius Vespasianus, an up-and-coming junior officer in the Roman Army. Titus was soon forced to divorce Julia’s mother, whose family was implicated in a plot against the Emperor Nero. Three years later, Vespasian seized the throne and Titus, his eldest son, was named Caesar and heir-apparent. Julia was Titus’s only child and grew up in the imperial palace, with all the indulgence and pampering that implies. But she also became a pawn in the deadly game of dynastic politics. In her teens, Julia evidently developed an attachment to Titus’s younger brother Domitian. When she came of age, Titus (reluctantly?) proposed that she marry Domitian. But Domitian was enamored with another lady and refused the match. We don’t know how she felt about this rejection, but a short time later Julia was betrothed to a cousin, Flavius Sabinus, who was just starting on his political career. In AD 79, Vespasian died and Titus became sole emperor. One of his first official acts was to raise Julia to the rank of Augusta, or Empress, the first woman in more than a decade to hold that exalted position. He struck this lovely coin for the occasion, pairing Julia’s obverse portrait with a charming image of Venus with her half-covered derriere turned coyly to the viewer. Julia thus became the first reigning Roman empress to be honored with a regular issue of Roman coins struck solely in her own name.

The final winners of all CNG Feature Auction 118 lots will be determined at the live public sale that will be held on 13-14 September 2021. CNG Feature Auction 118 – Session Three – Roman Provincial Coinage Part 2 through Roman Imperial Coinage Part 1 will be held Tuesday morning, 14 September 2021 beginning at 9:00 AM ET.

Winning bids are subject to a 20% buyer's fee for bids placed on this website and 22.50% for all others.

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