Numismatica Ars Classica Zurich

Auction 114 - Part I  –  6 - 7 May 2019

Numismatica Ars Classica Zurich, Auction 114 - Part I

Greek, Roman and Byzantine Coins

Tu, 07.05.2019, from 11:00 AM CEST
The auction is closed.

Description

Galba, 68 – 69. Aureus July 68 – January 69, AV 8.82 g. IMP SER GALBA – CAESAR AVG Laureate head r. Rev. DIVA – AVGVSTA Livia, draped, standing l., holding patera and leaning on long sceptre. C 54. BMC 4. RIC 184. CBN –. Calicó 473.
Very rare. A bold and realistic portrait struck in high relief
on a full flan, extremely fine

Ex NAC sale 64, 2012, 1131. From the collection of a retired banker.

Almost more remarkable than Galba’s legacy as an emperor for seven months in 68 and 69 is the life he enjoyed before he claimed the purple. He was among the wealthiest men in the empire, and is said not to have travelled anywhere, not even on a casual afternoon ride, with less than ten thousand gold pieces. Being so wealthy and belonging to a noble family, the Suplicii, it is not surprising that he held many important posts in Rome and in the provinces, and was a personal acquaintance of the Julio-Claudians. Galba began his association with the Julio-Claudians with a pinch on the cheek from Augustus when he was a child, and thereafter he was a personal acquaintance of the emperors from Tiberius onward to Nero, whom he overthrew in 68. Agrippina Junior apparently was infatuated with him, and he enjoyed especially close friendships with Claudius and Livia. Suetonius tells us Livia made Galba her principal heir, leaving him 500,000 aurei, but that Tiberius nullified her bequest on a technicality, reducing the amount to only 5,000. The reverse of this aureus depicts the standing figure of Livia, who had been deified since the accession of her grandson Claudius in 41. The point is clear: Galba advertises his famous attachment to the early Julio-Claudians, and specifically to the first empress Livia. In doing so he offers proof of his fitness to wear the purple as the first non-Julio-Claudian to claim that honour. It was an appropriate message in this age of chaos and civil war, when faith in the more recent Julio-Claudians had been justifiably shaken, and Galba proposed a return to the severitas of a bygone era.

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Price realized 80'000 CHF
Starting price 48'000 CHF
Estimate 60'000 CHF
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