Auction Name: 2026 January 22 - 23 NYINC World & Ancient Coins Signature Auction

Lot Number: 35008

Shortcut to Lot: HA.com/3130*35008

Augustus (27 BC-AD 14). AR denarius (22mm, 3.49 gm, 11h). NGC XF 5/5 - 2/5, marks. Rome, ca. 19/18 BC. CAESAR-AVGVSTVS, bare head of Augustus right / III VIR-TV-RPILIANVS, Tarpeia raising hands, partially buried by shields. RIC I 299.

From The Peh Family Collection, Part IV. Ex Baldwin's, Auction XXV (5 January 2011), lot 44.

There are two variant legends concerning Tarpeia, a maiden of Rome's mythical founding years. One story, probably the earliest, holds that she agreed to betray Rome to the Sabines by opening the city gates, in return for which she would receive what the Sabine soldiers wore on their left arms. She meant their heavy golden bracelets, but after the deed, the soldiers "rewarded" her buy crushing her under their shields, which they also "wore" on their left arms. A later version of the story holds that Tarpeia was in fact trying to save Rome by disarming the Sabines and thus died a martyr's death. It may be this later version of the story, which paints Tarpeia is a heroine, represented on this denarius of Augustus.

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