Auction Name: 2026 January 12 NYINC World & Ancient Coins Platinum Session and Signature® Auction - New York

Lot Number: 34037

Shortcut to Lot: HA.com/3129*34037

L. Cestius and C. Norbanus (43 BC). AV aureus (20mm, 8.08 gm, 8h). NGC Choice AU 5/5 - 4/5. Rome, ca. January-April 43 BC. Draped bust of Africa right, seen from front, wearing elephant skin headdress over helmet; large dotted border / L•CESTIVS / C•NORBA, Corinthian helmet right on curule chair, legs decorated with eagles flying right; S•C-P R across fields, dotted border. Calicó 3. Crawford 491/1a. Sydenham 1153. Cestia 1 and Norbana 3. Brilliant, sunny devices with nearly complete borders.

From the Mirabilis Collection. Ex Classical Numismatic Group, Auction 115 (16 September 2020), lot 590; Tkalec, (26 October 2007), lot 131.

This intriguing gold aureus belongs to the 12 months immediately following the assassination of Julius Caesar, which produced a chaotic situation in Rome when the Senate briefly regained its preeminence and a host of unlikely alliances were formed and broken up. Octavian, Caesar's young heir, allied himself with Cicero and the Senate against Marc Antony, who, following the end of his Consulship on 1 January 43 BC, took an army north to attack Decimus Albinus Brutus, one of the assassins, who had been appointed by the Senate as governor of Cisalpine Gaul. The new Consuls Hirtius and Pansa, in turn, raised a Senatorial army and set off to attack Antony, ostensibly with Octavian's support. Lucius Cestius and Gaius Norbanus, both Caesarians and supporters of Octavian, were elected Praetors for 43 BC and ordered the striking of this issue of gold aurei to pay the Senatorial soldiers. Two of the new legions were raised in Africa, reflected by the personification on the obverse of this piece. The curule chair on the reverse reflects the authority of the Consuls and Praetors. The alliance between Octavian and Senate would prove to be short-lived, and the latter's renewed authority was swept away when Octavian, Antony, and Lepidus formed the Second Triumvirate.

Include Thumbnail(s)