Commodus augustus, 177 – 192
Aureus 186-189, AV 7.21 g. M COMM ANT P – FEL AVG BRIT Laureate head r. Rev. VICTO – RIAE – FELICI Victory, turreted, flying l., holding diadem in both hands; below, two shields and tablet inscribed C V P P. C –, cf. 952 (denarius). BMC –, cf. 240 (denarius). RIC –, cf. 196 (denarius). Calicó 2360a (these dies). Coin Hoard II p. 66, fig 15, 6 (these dies).
Exceedingly rare, only the fourth specimen known of this intriguing and
fascinating issue. Virtually as struck and almost Fdc

Ex Leu 87, 2003, Perfectionist, 41 and NAC 52, 2009, 489 sales.
When this aureus was struck, sometime after his fifth consulship on January 1, 86, Commodus must have had a fresh and wary perspective on the hazards of being emperor. The previous year had begun well enough: on the heels of a swift victory in Britain, Commodus began to celebrate the vows for his decennalia, or tenth year of power; he even went so far as to describe the event as the dawn of a new golden age, which he inaugurated with the Primi Decenales games. However, the celebratory atmosphere was quickly tarnished with the revolt in that same year of his praetorian prefect Perennis, who intended to replace Commodus as emperor with his own son. It was a serious coup that shook his confidence, and that required him to pay a largess to the army (which he honoured with special coin types, including one depicting the emperor haranguing the troops). This fiasco was followed in 286 with a guerilla war in Spain and Gaul led by a deserter named Maternus, who in the following year came to Rome in disguise to murder Commodus, and who might have succeeded had he not been betrayed the day before he intended to strike. With so much treachery about his person, Commodus could hardly have been enjoying his lot as emperor, and the rather festive appearance of this aureus, inscribed C. V. P. P. for Consul V Pater Patriae, represented the bright side of his otherwise perilous life .