Commodus AV Aureus. Rome, AD 186-189. M COMM ANT P FEL AVG BRIT, laureate head to right / VICTORIAE FELICI, Victory, draped and turreted, flying to left, holding diadem in both hands above two oval shields set on base inscribed C V P P. RIC III -, cf. 196 (denarius); C. -, cf. 952 (denarius); BMCRE 240 note; Biaggi 1022; Calicó 2360 (same dies); Roma XXII, 819 (hammered for £120,000). 7.26g, 20mm, 6h.

Mint State. Exceedingly Rare; seemingly one of only approximately six known specimens.

From the Altstetten Collection, kept in the vault of Crédit Suisse Geneva (documentation available upon request) since 26 November 1969.

This coin was struck at least a decade into Commodus’ rule as co-Augustus and more than five years after the death of his father, the esteemed Marcus Aurelius, had left him as sole ruler of the Roman Empire. The shield base inscribed C V P P for Consul V Pater Patriae celebrates his fifth consulship, which began in AD 186. The exceedingly rare type is one of celebration, with a stunning festive image of a winged Victory holding a diadem. Indeed, this period of Commodus’ reign was marked by a comprehensive victory in Britain in AD 185 (for which he received the title Britannicus which appears as BRIT in the obverse legend) and the celebration of his decennalia (tenth year of power) marked by the Primi Decennales games and advertised as the dawn of a new golden age. On the obverse, a magnificent high-relief portrait of Commodus, with painstakingly deeply-carved and intricate curls, gazes out serenely in the characteristic mode of Antonine emperors.

The victorious and prosperous image of Commodus’ rule proclaimed by this coin was, however, only one side of a highly perilous rule. A recent revolt by the praetorian prefect Perennis, who reportedly intended to proclaim his own son as emperor, threatened the emperor’s position. He reacted with a spate of executions and a demonstration of largess to the army to ensure loyalty. This event was quickly followed by an attempted assassination by a deserter named Maternus in AD 187, and a conspiracy by enemies of Cleander, a freedman favourite of Commodus who manoeuvred his way into the control of the Praetorian guard in AD 188, but was later beheaded on Commodus’ orders in AD 190. Commodus was eventually assassinated in AD 192 and thereafter immediately declared a public enemy by the senate; the serene festivity of this coin which celebrates the military and civic achievements of Commodus’ reign belies the atmosphere of treachery, paranoia and complex political manoeuvring around the man himself.