2018-08-28 Tue

The gold Aureus is seen in the feature image was issued in the reign of Emperor Augustus of Rome, the first and greatest of Rome’s emperors. This coin was sold for 480,000 Euros making it one of the world’s most expensive Roman coins.

This coin was struck around 27 to 18 BC, it features a new portrait of Augustus facing right. The portrait of Augustus on the obverse side is illustrated as the ageless Apollo-like classical beauty with inscription ‘CAESAR’ on the left side within the dotted border. The reverse of this coin depicts heifer base facing left, considered as the long-lost masterpiece by Greek sculpture.

There are only 22 surviving examples of this heifer featuring on reverse side gold aureus, these were minted in the Augustus reign of which 15 are in museums. Hence, there are only seven specimens left for sale available for the potential collectors and buyers. These coins are divided into 5 types, the above-shown coin comes under type two category due to the laureate head of Augustus is facing right and heifer facing to left. This coin is considered as extremely fine with lustre.

The portrait depicted on the coin is not similar to the later imperial coinage; this similar style of the statue of Emperor Augustus is seen in Vatican Today.

Image Courtesy: www.dnw.co.uk