The Roman Empire
Gaius, 37 – 41
Denarius, Lugdunum 37-38, AR 3.72 g. C CAESAR AVG GERM P M TR POT COS Bare head of Gaius r. Rev. Radiate head of Augustus (or Tiberius) r. between two stars. C 11. BMC 3. RIC 2. CBN 3.
Two lovely portraits struck on a full flan and with a light iridescent tone, minor marks and a
hairline flan crack at eleven o’clock on obverse, otherwise about extremely fine
Ex Busso Peus sale 372, 2002, 1154.

This is one of four main types of denarii of Caligula. I finally was able to get all four of these designs in high grade. Two were in the first sale and this with lot 95 below are in this sale. Since Caligula had few deeds of his own to glorify he used his coinage to connect him to more ”honorable” deceased relatives – here with Augustus. This is a nice mate to the coin below. MSG.