74
Marvelous Cassius Denarius
Outstanding Portrait Denarius of Ahenobarbus
3090
C. Cassius Longinus. Silver Denarius (4.0 g), 42 BC.
Military mint,
probably at Smyrna.
Conspirator, commited suicide in 42 BC.
P. Lentu-
lus Spinther, legate. C CASSI IMP behind, LEIBERTAS before, diademed,
veiled and draped bust of Libertas right.
Reverse:
LENTVLVS/SPINT in
two lines below, jug and lituus. Crawford 500/5; HCRI 223; Sydenham
1305; RSC 6. Boldly struck in high relief and well centered. Beautifully
toned with hints of iridescense.
Superb Extremely Fine.
Libertas’s portrait on this coin is quite lovely, showing a certain gracious-
ness and competent ability not evident on the parallel issues with an
unveiled Libertas where the goddess is depicted with a rather large jowl
and chin more in line with a caricature portrait. In instances such as this,
we must wonder if the engraver was simply more skilled or if perhaps
he had a local beauty sit for him whose likeness he skillfully copied.
Estimated Value .................................................................... $4,000 - 5,000
Ex Triton XI (8-9 January 2008), 612; Freeman & Sear List 6 (Summer
2001), F87.
3091
Cn. Domitius Ahenobarbus. Silver Denarius
(3.92 g), 41-40 BC.
Uncertain mint in the region
of the Adriatic or Ionian Sea.
Imperator, died 31
BC.
AHENOBAR, head of L. Ahenobarbus right.
Reverse:
CN DOMITIVS IMP, trophy set on prow of
galley right. Crawford 519/2; HCRI 339; Sydenham
1177; Domitia 21. Well struck on a sound planchet
with delicate golden toning. An enchanting speci-
men with an excellent portrait of the Imperator.
Ex-
tremely Fine.
Originally a Pompeian loyalist, Ahenobarbus allied
with Brutus and Cassius after the Ides of March. Af-
ter Philippi he engaged the fleet of the triumvirs un-
der the command of Domitius Calvinus, inflicting
a resounding defeat for which he was hailed im-
perator by his troops, which the reverse of this coin
commemorates. Subsequently, however, he joined
Antony in opposing Octavian, but then deserted to
Octavian before Actium, having become disgust-
ed with Antony’s alliance with Cleopatra. Aside
from his involvement in the civil wars that racked
Rome in the latter half of the first century BC, Ahe-
nobarbus is also remember for being the pater-
nal great-grandfather of the future emperor Nero.
Estimated Value ................................ $7,000 - 8,000
Ex Gemini V (6 January 2009), 778.
