Pre-Long Beach Auction #80

Julius Caesar. Silver Denarius (4.11 g), 42 BC. Rome. P. Clodius M.f. Turrinus, moneyer. CAESAR before, IMP behind, laureate head of Julius Caesar right. Reverse P CLODIVS on left, M F on right, Mars standing facing, head left, holding spear and parazonium. Crawford 494/16; HCRI 114; Sydenham 1123; RSC 37. Boldly struck on a full size flan with incredible detail. Lovely old cabinet tone with a hint of iridescense. An exceptional example, one of the finest in existence. Superb Extremely Fine.

The moneyer, P. Clodius, son of Marcus, of whom nothing is known, returned to the realistic style of portraiture that typifies Caesar's lifetime issues and which had been replaced the year before with an idealized effigy of Caesar under the moneyer Flamininus. There are parallel issues by P. Clodius for both Mark Antony and Octavian (Crawford 494/17 and 494/18 respectively), each employing the same reverse type of Mars. The issue was struck to finance the anticipated war against the republican forces of Brutus and Cassius in the East.
Estimated Value $50,000-UP.
Ex UBS 78 (9-10 September 2008), 1131; Ernst Justus Haeberlin Collection (A.Cahn/A. Hess, 17 July 1933), 2930.