AUGUSTUS SILVER DENARIUS – LUGDUNUM ISSUE WITH GAIUS AND LUCIUS CAESAR – CHOICE VF NGC GRADED ROMAN IMPERIAL COIN OF THE 12 CAESARS (INV. 19976)

$975.00

19976. ROMAN EMPIRE. AUGUSTUS, 27 BC–AD 14.
Silver Denarius, 3.78 g, 18 mm. Issue of Lugdunum (Lyon, France), ca. 2 BC–AD 4 BC.
Obv. CAESAR AVGVSTVS–DIVI F PATER PATRIAE, laureate head of Augustus right. Rev. AVGVSTI F COS DESIG PRINC IVVENT, Gaius and Lucius Caesar, standing, facing, holding shields and spears.
RIC I rev, 207.
NGC graded CHOICE VF, Strike 4/5, Surface 3/5, “brushed.”

Augustus was the first to establish a visual propaganda machine in which sculpture, painting and numismatics played a huge role. This coin focuses on Augustus’ preoccupation with succession, showing his two grandsons, Gaius and Lucius as Caesars, who were intended to succeed him, but died early. It is a coin minted during a period of time generally recognized to correspond to the birth of Jesus Christ and his infancy.