Pre-Long Beach Auction #80

Q. Caecilius Metellus Pius. Silver Denarius (3.68 g), 81 BC. Mobile military mint with Sulla's army in northern Italy. Diademed head of Pietas right; to right, stork standing right. Reverse IMPER, jug and lituus within laurel wreath. Crawford 374/2; Sydenham 750; Caecilia 44. Well struck, well centered and lustrous. Nearly Mint State.

Q. Caecilius Metellus Pius came from one of the most important and wealthiest families of Rome. Beginning in the 3rd century BC, his family held numerous consulships, tribunates, censorships and military commands. His father, Q. Caecilius Metellus Numidicus, was the chief commander in the Jugurthine War in Numidia until Marius displaced him, and was later censor until driven into exile by Marius. The obverse of this coin portrays the goddess Pietas and alludes to the moneyer's cognomen, Pius. The moneyer acquired the honorable title from the people of Rome, whom he had beseeched in order to secure the restoration from exile of his father. The reverse probably refers to an unattested augurate of the moneyer's father, but may also allude to Sulla's holding of the augurate in ca. 82 BC (cf. Crawford p. 374).
Estimated Value $1,500 - 2,000.
Ex Nomos 5 (25 October 2011), 219.