Lot 4510

Description

Mark Antony and Octavian, (41 B.C.), silver denarius, mint moving with Mark Antony, (3.71 g), obv. bare head of Mark Antony to right, around [M] ANT IMP AVG III VIR R P C M BARBAT Q P, rev. bare head of Octavian to right, around CAESAR IMP PONT III VIR R P C, (S.1504, Cr.517/2, Syd.1181). Off centred on reverse, with large flan, attractive grey tone, very fine and scarce.

Ex I.S. Wright, Sydney, January 18, 2005 and previously from Noble Numismatics Auction Sale 77 (lot 3504).
Although produced three years after Julius Caesar's introduction of contemporary portraiture on Roman coinage, this issue displays a very developed style with encircling inscription, upon which all later imperial numismatic iconography was based. The coin was produced by Antony, honouring his colleague in the triumvirate, Octavian. The issue was struck in the name of M. Barbatius Pollio, a friend of Julius Caesar and quaestor pro praetore to Antony in the East. The year 41 B.C. saw the first meeting of Antony with Cleopatra, at Tarsus, and he spent the following winter with her in Egypt.