Tiberius (AD 14-37). AV aureus (19mm, 7.80 gm, 4h). NGC Choice AU 4/5 - 4/5. Lugdunum, AD 15-16. TI CAESAR DIVI-AVG F AVGVSTVS, laureate head of Tiberius right / TR POT-XVII, Tiberius standing in triumphal quadriga right, laurel branch in right hand, scepter surmounted by eagle in left, all four horses looking right; IMP VII in exergue. RIC I 3. Calicó 308. Exceptionally crisp strike with areas of orange toning. From the Morris Collection. Ex Leu Numismatik AG (10 May 2005), lot 4; Bank Leu, Private Purchase (1965). The son of Augustus' wife Livia by her previous marriage to a member of the aristocratic Claudian family, Tiberius Claudius Nero was born in 42 BC in the waning days of the Roman Republic. His path to supreme power was too circuitous to relate here, but upon the death of Augustus in AD 14, Tiberius was a weary 54-year-old who didn't truly want the job of emperor anymore. Nevertheless, Tiberius' first years as emperor went fairly smoothly, marred only by the death of the popular Germanicus in AD 19. Still, Tiberius longed to leave the hubbub of Rome behind. He attempted to retire in stages, giving more and more power to his unscrupulous Praetorian Prefect Sejanus, who plotted the arrests and murders of nearly the whole Julio-Claudian family. Heartsick and tired of intrigues, Tiberius retired permanently to the luxurious island retreat of Capri in AD 27, allowing Sejanus to run wild and destroy himself by overreaching. Tiberius died embittered and unloved in AD 37, leaving the succession to his deranged nephew Gaius 'Caligula,' perhaps as a cruel joke on the Roman people. It is unlikely he ever knew about the most momentous event of his reign, the ministry and crucifixion of Jesus Christ in Judaea. Like Tiberius himself, his coinage was intensely conservative, with only a single precious metal type in use for almost the entirety of his 23-year reign (the PONTIF MAXIM reverse type), making this early quadriga type even more desirable as it was only produced during his first two regnal years - Tribunicia Potestas XVI and XVII.

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