TheNewYorkSaleauctionXL

1209

Galba. Silver Denarius (3.17 g), AD 68-69. Rome. IMP SER GALBA CAESAR AVG, laureate bust of

Galba right, slight drapery on far shoulder. Rev. DIVA AVGVSTA, Livia standing facing, head left, holding

patera and scepter. (RIC 189; BMC6; RSC 55a). Beautiful old grey-purple cabinet tone, pleasing portrait.

Choice very fine.

$ 2,500

Sulpicius Galba was the elderly governor of Hispania Tarraconensis who seized the opportunity to claim the imperial purple for

seven months during the tumultuous Year of the Four Emperors (AD 68/9). Although he was a military usurper, Galba claimed

legitimacy by associating himself with the family of Augustus, the first and most revered Roman emperor. As it happened, when his

father married a second time, his new wife was Livia Ocellina, a distant relative of Livia, the wife of Augustus. The reverse type of

this denarius trumpets this ephemeral connection to the Julio-Claudian house by depicting and naming Livia, who was given divine

status in AD 42. While the type was a tool for creating an image of legitimacy it was also a bit of a gamble since the Julio-Claudian

house had also produced Nero, the emperor whose inept reign created the situation in which rebel governors led to his downfall.

1210

Galba. Silver Denarius (3.59 g), AD 68-69. Tarraco(?), AD 68. IMP GALBA, laureate head of Galba left,

globe at point of bust. Rev. VICTROIA P R, Victory standing left on globe, holding wreath and palm. (cf.

RIC 10 (aureus, direction of rev. legend; R5, with unique at the time specimen reported in the ANS Annual

Report 1980, p. 14, fig. 12); C. H. V. Sutherland, “Supplementum Galbianum,”

1984, -; BMC -; RSC -;

cf. Calicó 512 (same dies; aureus)).

Extremely rare and possibly unique in silver.

Two aurei from the same dies

are known.

Nice bold high relief portrait. Nicely toned. Choice very fine.

$ 2,000

ex Aureo & Calicó 275 (10 March 2016), lot 4.