Vespasian, 69 – 79
Aureus 70, AV 7.32 g. IMP CAESAR VESPASIANVS AVG Laureate head r. Rev. COS ITER – TR POT Pax seated l., holding branch and caduceus. C –. BMC 23. RIC 28. CBN 398. Faces of Power 51. Biaggi 308 (this coin). Calicó 607 (this coin). An unusual and interesting portrait struck in high relief on a full flan and a superb reddish tone. Virtually as struck and almost Fdc Ex Hess sale 14th April 1954, 252. From the Biaggi collection and the Boscoreale hoard of 1895. This coin is sold with an export licence issued by the government of Spain. Both historians and citizens openly criticised Vespasian - the son of a man who made a fortune as a tax collector in Asia, and later as a banker in Helvetia - for his stinginess, but this proved to be an essential quality for an emperor in his troubled times. Suetonius (Vesp 16.3) reports that Vespasian claimed he needed 400 million aurei (10 billion denarii) to "...put the country back on its feet again". As a result of his close attention to finance, Vespasian struck aurei in large quantities, and unlike most of his predecessors, he employed a wide variety of reverse types. For generations researchers have recognised that many of Vespasian's reverse types recall types from earlier reigns, most especially those from the age of Augustus. Attempts have been made to connect his 'Augustan' types with the centenaries of the Battle of Actium (ending in 70) and the 'foundation' of the empire (ending in 74), but all seem to have failed, as the relevant types are strewn throughout Vespasian's ten-year reign. It is perhaps better to view his recycling of types as a political strategy favoured by Vespasian and Titus, but subsequently abandoned by Domitian.