Augustus (27 BC-AD 14). AV aureus (19mm, 7.84 gm, 8h). Choice XF, repaired. Lugdunum, 8 BC. AVGVSTVS-DIVI•F, laureate head of Augustus right / C•CAES / AVGVS•F, Gaius Caesar on horse leaping right, reins in right hand, sword and shield in left; aquila between two standards in background. RIC I 198. Calicó 174. Well struck with dies of crisp Augustan style; one of the most attractive examples of the type. Evidence of repair to the neck, thus ineligible for encapsulation. From the Historical Scholar Collection Already planning ahead for his succession, in 8 BC Augustus introduced his twelve-year-old grandson and adopted son Gaius Caesar to the Roman army in Gaul. Gaius subsequently accompanied the future emperor Tiberius on campaign against the Sicambri on the Rhine frontier, and two years later he became Rome's youngest consul to date at the age of 14. The bulla around Gaius' neck signifies that he was still a child and had not yet assumed the toga of manhood (J. Pollini, Gaius Caesar on horseback, Museum Notes 30, 1985).

HID09801242017

© 2022 Heritage Auctions | All Rights Reserved

To the auctioneer's website