Pre-Long Beach Auction #80

Gaius Caligula, with Agrippina I. Silver Denarius (3.69 g), AD 37-41. Lugdunum, AD 37/8. C CAESAR AVG GERM P M TR POT, bare head of Gaius right. Reverse AGRIPPINA MAT C CAES AVG GERM, draped bust of Agrippina I right, hair tied in queue at back of neck. RIC 8; Giard 169; BMC 8; RSC 4. Two magnificent portraits of the finest style perfectly struck and centered on a full flan. Traces of luster still present and lightly toned. Very rare and among the finest examples known. Superb Extremely Fine.

Perhaps more than any other emperor of Rome Caligula honored his family on his coinage, both living and deceased members. Besides his surviving sisters, amongst those so honored were his great-grandfather Augustus, his grandfather Agrippa, his father Germanicus, and his mother and his two brothers, Agrippina I and Nero and Drusus Caesars, the latter three succumbing in the family's contest for power against Sejanus, Tiberius's notorious Praetorian Prefect.

Early in his reign, Caligula journeyed to the island of Pandataria, where his mother had died while cruelly imprisoned at the order of Tiberius, and recovered her ashes. Agrippina had been a strong critic of Tiberius' principate, questioning him about the mysterious circumstances of her husband's death and also accusing him of having attempted to poison her. Under Sejanus' manipulation, Tiberius' animosity towards her and her family grew increasingly stronger, which eventually lead to them being convicted of plotting against him. Nero starved to death while imprisoned in Rome, and Drusus committed suicide shortly after the trial. Agrippina, however, was banished to the island of Pandataria where she was imprisoned under very brutal circumstances (she lost an eye while being flogged, and she was regularly withheld nourishment). Eventually she died there of starvation.
Estimated Value $25,000 - 30,000.
Ex S. C. Markoff Collection (NAC 62, 6 October 2011), 2020.