Roman Silver & Bronze Coins

Lot 3609    Session 11 (9.30am Thursday)    Roman Silver & Bronze Coins

Estimate $750
Bid at live.noble.com.au
SOLD $750

AUGUSTUS, (27 B.C. - A.D.14), Phoenicia, Berytus, AE 21 (7.44 gm), issued by P. Quinctilius Varus, legate of Syria, struck 6-4 B.C., obv. bare head right, around IMP CAESAR AVGVSTV, rev. two aquilae around [P QV]INTILV[S VR]VS, (S.-, RPC I 4535.19 (This Coin?), AUB 35-6, BMC 55-56, Rouvier 493). Very fine or better with dark green patina, with light earthen deposits, very rare.

Ex Triton XIV, CNG Auction Sale January 4-5, 2011 (lot 1715 part) and from the J.S. Wagner Collection with his ticket. Varus was the General at the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest. P. Quinctilius Varus had a successful career under Augustus until A.D. 9. He had been consul in 13 B.C., along with the future emperor Tiberius and served as governor of Africa, Syria (where he had sent two legions into Judaea to quell local unrest after the territory was made a Roman province) and Germania. It was in Germania that Varus suffered the defeat he is best remembered for. The Cherusci, under their chieftain Arminius, along with other allies, ambushed Varus in the Teutoburg Forest of northwest Germany, and annihilated the XVII, XVIII, and XIX Roman legions in a battle that lasted for three days. Varus, sensing doom, committed suicide, and when Augustus heard of the disaster, it is recorded that he tore his clothes and exclaimed, "Quintilius Varus, give me back my legions!" No further attempts were made to subdue the Germans beyond the Rhine until the reign of Domitian. This important coin type was last sold (about as fine as this example) in May 2009 in a CNG Electronic Auction 206 (lot 369) for a hammer price of $1900US.