The Finest Known Denarius of Clodius Macer
545
Clodius Macer, Silver Denarius, 3.62g, Governor of Africa, AD 68. Mint of Carthage.
L CLODI-VS MACER,
S C
below bust, bare head of Clodius Macer facing right. Rev.
PRO/PRAE
in two lines above,
AFRICAE
below,
war galley with aplustre and five oarsmen sailing right (RIC 37; K. V. Hewitt, NC 1983, 55 (dies 31/37) = L.
Mildenberg, Vestigia Leonis p.362, pl. LI, 1 (this coin); A. Gara, RIN1970, p.67, 7, and pl. 1, 11/12; BMC 1; RSC
13).Anexcellentportrait unusuallywell-centred, completeandof excellentmetal, attractiveoldcabinet toneadds
to its appeal, superb extremely fine.
Exceedingly rare and probably the finest specimen known
.
$ 100,000
ex Tunis Hoard
ex Sternberg Auction III, 29-30 November 1974, lot 47
ex Highly Important Greek and Roman Coins, The Nelson Bunker Hunt Collection (part I), Sotheby’s, 19 June 1990, lot 126
ex James Fox Collection, CNG/NAC Auction 40, 4 December 1996, lot 1402
ex Barry Feirstein Collection, NAC Auction 39, 16 May 2007, lot 107
L. Clodius Macer was the propraetorian legate of the Legio III Augusta based in Numidia during the latter part of Nero’s reign.
Historically, he was thought to have rebelled against Nero in the name of the Senate of Rome, but recent study into the language
employed by Tacitus in his history of the period throws a shadow over this interpretation. It seems instead that perhaps Macer was
first a loyal partisan of Nero, and only when overtaken by the events of Nero’s suicide did he find himself in opposition to Galba. In
this view, Nero sent his influential mistress, Calvia Crispinilla, to Africa to assure Macer’s loyalty to the throne after Galba had publicly
declared his support for Vindex’s uprising, and that it was only after Galba came to power that Macer began to act in a more arbitrary
manner, using his naval forces in an attempted investment of Sicily to blockade Rome and cut off her grain supply (see G. Morgan,
“Clodius Macer and Calvia Crispinilla,” Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte 49, 4 [4
th
Quarter, 2000]: pp.467-487).
Supporting this interpretation of events is the evidence from Macer’s coinage. While it has often been suggested that Macer was
attempting to either re-establish the Roman Republic, or alternately that he aspired to the throne himself, these arguments do not
hold up upon closer scrutiny. The first argument is based on the fact that Macer was even striking precious metal coinage, a purely
imperial prerogative for the past century, and that for designs he chose types prevalent during the imperatorial period. Countering
this is that both Galba and perhaps also Vindex preempted him, striking anonymous issues themselves, and Macer’s choice of types
merely provided the consumer the comfort of the conventional since earlier Denarii of course still circulated widely in Africa in the
AD 60s. The second argument is based in part on the fact that Macer put his name on his coins, and that on one issue, probably his
last, he even included his own portrait. Although it is true that Macer’s Denarii are not anonymous, with notable modesty they all
clearly give his title as mere procurator of a legion in Afric.There is also ample precedent for using his own portrait, which notably
is not laureate. Additionally, although it seems highly improbable that the Senate ever empowered Macer to strike coinage, all of his
coins without exception claim to be operating S C. This and his modest title are compelling enough reasons to see that Macer had
no delusional grandeur of aspiring to the purple, and should instead be seen as putting the best face on his own actions while at the
same time reassuring the people that his money was sound.
After Macer’s capture and execution by order of Galba, it would seem that his coins were immediately recalled and melted, the bullion
of which was used for a short time at the Carthaginian mint to strike coins all with a comparably provincial style for Galba. Hewitt
records 77 known dies for Macer’s coinage and extrapolates that there may have been more than 180 in total, so it was apparently
substantial. However, very specimens survive today - fewer than 85 coins of all types, with at most just twenty being portrait Denarii
- making this coin one of the rarest in the entire history of Roman Imperial coinage.
