Tiberius (AD 14-37), with Divus Augustus. AV aureus (20mm, 7.64 gm, 7h). NGC Choice VF 5/5 - 2/5, edge marks, smoothing. Lugdunum, AD 14-16. TI CAESAR DIVI-AVG F AVGVSTVS, laureate head of Tiberius right / DIVOS AVGVST-DIVI F, laureate head of Augustus right; star with six points above. RIC I 24. Calicó 311. Mellow flan with some areas of toning around the devices. Ex Numismatica Ars Classica, Spring Sale 2021 (10 May 2021), lot 1191 As the stepchild and unwanted heir of Augustus, Tiberius had a difficult act to follow. Nevertheless, for the first few years of his reign, he did a commendable job running the vast empire bequeathed to his care. Cautious and frugal, he engaged in no wars of conquest and kept the Empire's finances in good order. However, he soon tired of the endless toil and began handing off duties to his unscrupulous second-fiddles, namely the Praetorian Prefect Sejanus and his eventual replacement, Macro. The resulting bloodbath among members of his own family, and their Senatorial supporters, tarnished his name throughout history. His cautious nature is reflected in his coinage - unlike the proliferation of types employed by Augustus, Tiberius kept the same simple design, as seen on the next lot, for both silver denarii and gold aurei for almost the entirety of his reign. This uniformity of type makes it virtually impossible to date any particular aureus or denarius more precisely than somewhere within the last two decades of his reign. Hence, virtually any of his coins could have been struck in the same year as the momentous event he probably never heard about, the crucifixion of Jesus Christ in Judaea, likely between AD 30 and 34.

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