Insights
Gold aureus with Titus as Caesar leads Berk’s buy or bid sale
- Published: Mar 16, 2015, 9 AM
A gold aureus of Roman Emperor Titus depicted as Caesar highlights Harlan J. Berk Ltd.’s buy or bid sale closing April 30.
The sale features mostly ancient coins but also includes more recent world coins, antiquities and maps.
The firm conducts about five such sales annually. Buyers may purchase any coin at the asking price or submit a lower bid, with bids accepted until the sale closes April 30.
The circa 76 A.D. gold aureus features a laureate (leafy crown) bust of Titus on the obverse, and a heifer, walking left, on the reverse.
The coin with this position of the heifer is “substantially rarer” than others that show the heifer facing right, according to the Berk catalogers.
According to Harold Mattingly, writing in Roman Imperial Coinage, “The heifer is unquestionably the famous statue of Myron which had been placed by Augustus in the ‘Porticus Apollonis’ and was transferred by Vespasian to the temple of Peace.”
The heifer design is also found on an aureus struck for Augustus, suggesting that Titus was using the design as a bridge to the earlier reign.
The example in Berk’s sale has “numerous contact marks” but is described as being otherwise Extremely Fine condition. It has an asking price of $8,000.
To learn more about the sale, visit the firm’s website, www.hjbltd.com.
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