TITUS SILVER DENARIUS – VENUS ISSUE STRUCK JUST BEFORE VESUVIUS ERUPTED IN AD 79 – FINE ROMAN IMPERIAL COIN OF THE 12 CAESARS (20440)

$385.00

20440. ROMAN EMPIRE. TITUS, AD 79-81.
Silver Denarius, 18 mm. Issue struck in Rome after July AD 79, right before the eruption that buried Pompeii and Herculaneum.
Obv. IMP TITVS CAES VESPASIAN AVG P M, laureate head of Titus right. Rev. TR POT VIIII IMP XIIII COS VII PP, Venus, seen from the back leaning on a column right, holding helmet and scepter.
RIC II.1, 34.
NGC graded FINE, a scarce type for Titus, this coin was struck in AD 79, the year Vesuvius erupted (August of AD 79), burying the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum in volcanic ash. The reverse type is particularly interesting as it is based on a famous Greek statue called the Venus Kallipygos, the Venus “of the beautiful buttocks.” One of the many copies of the statue is in the Naples Museum.