Denarius; Crawford 457/1
MINT WITH ALLIENUS IN SICILY: 11, 47BCE. Diademed head of Venus (rt.), “C • CAESAR IMP • COS • ITER” around. Trinacrus (left) on rev. foot on prow, holding triskeles in his right hand, and cloak (might be a lion pelt) in (and around) his left, “A ALLIENVS PRO • COS” around (by Aulus Allienus for Caesar). Minted to pay the legions remaining in Sicily (protecting Caesar’s temporary grain supply until Tunisia and Egypt started shipping) while Caesar was defeating Pharnaces at Zela in Asia Minor on, or about, May 30th (a revolt not part of the Civil War) after which he wrote to Rome, “Veni, vidi, vici” (I came, I saw, I conquered). Caesar then stopped in Rome (September) to quell a mutiny there before finally coming to Sicily (December) where he regrouped his army and sailed to North Africa hoping to find and defeat the remaining former supporters of Pompey. Cr. 457. BMC, Sicily 5. An uncommon coin that based on minting numbers should be Caesar’s third scarcest military denarius (see the schedule of “Comparative Scarcities” following this listing of the individual coins). Very fine (what’s called “good very fine” these days, meaning better than very fine), well centered, no faults, pale rosy pink undertoning to the obv. and light golden background on the rev. 17.5 mm. 3.87 grams. Ex–Dr. John Jacobs ($2,090 in 1995), cataloged by Superior as “rare” (but it’s only relatively so, and anyway, the word rare is thrown around in coin world with less reserve than the word “bitch” in rap music). Item #360
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