01b Vespasian aureus

Ruler: Vespasian. AD 69-79

Obverse: IMP CAESAR VESPASIANVS AVG, laureate head left.

Reverse:  Emperor standing left, holding spear and parazonium, crowned by Victory standing behind, holding wreath and palm; COS VIII in exergue.

Mint: Rome, AD 77-78

Denomination: Aureus

Weight:  

Reference: RIC II.1-936; BMCRE-205; Calicó 625.

Note: Vespasian was not one for pretence; he despised the extravagant displays of luxury that had defined the reigns of his predecessors. Instead, he revelled in the simple pleasures of life, often jesting about his own mortality - as revealed by Suetonius in his The Twelves Caesars - and the follies of human ambition. Vespasian understood the importance of restoring stability to an empire ravaged by the Civil War of 69, and he approached this task with a soldier’s discipline and a leader’s foresight. His pragmatism was not devoid of empathy; he governed with a keen sense of justice, tempering the harshness of Roman law with a humanity that had been absent in the corridors of power for far too long. Vespasian’s legacy, therefore, is one of a man who, in his unadorned strength and understated wisdom, brought Rome back from the brink of chaos, not with grandiose proclamations, but with the steady, assured hand of a true ruler.

note: rare and desirable reverse type! Scarce bust of emperor to left instead of right as usual. 

Price: 12.000 PLN

Collezione : 18b Roman Aurei