Lot 4501

Description

Octavian, (42 B.C.), silver denarius, Rome Mint, (3.55 g), obv. head of Octavian, to right CAESAR III VIR R.P.C, border of dots, rev. Curule chair on which is a wreath, inscribed CAESAR DIC. PER on chair, (S.1536, C.497/2b, BMC Gaul 76, RSC Augustus 55a [p.135]). Good fine, minor surface marks, lightly toned, rare.

Ex Dr V.J.A. Flynn Collection and previously from Noble Numismatics Sale 107 (lot 3653) and also coming from an old Hungarian collection.
The issue is a memorial to Julius Caesar and shows the gilded sella and jewelled wreath which the Senate decreed to him on the occasion of his triumph in 45 B.C. This issue also presents the earliest numismatic portrait of Octavian (later Augustus), and consequently is of great interest.