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  1. Winning Losing Won Lost Watching Available in aftersale  
    Homer's Odyssey: Argus greeting Ulysses
    A43, Lot 107:

    ROMAN REPUBLICAN. C. Mamilius Limetanus. 82 B.C. AR serrate denarius. 3.95 gm. 19 mm. Rome mint. Draped bust of Mercury right, wearing winged petasus; to left, N above caduceus / Ulysses walking right, holding staff and extending hand toward his dog, Argus; C MAMIL LIME(TA)N. Crawford 362/1. Sydenham 741. RSC Mamilia 6. RBW 1370 var. (control). Very Fine; lustrous old toning with iridescence; well centered on a broad flan. Attractive coin. Fine style.

    Purchased from David Sear.

    Ulysses' faithful dog Argus waited years for his master to return from Troy. When Ulysses returned, it was in disguise in order to ambush a group of suitors that had taken up residence in his house while attempting to woo his wife Penelope. In contrast to his youth Argus is now old and ailing, laying neglected on a dung heap outside. He alone recognizes Ulysses through his disguise, though he is too weak to do much more than wag his tail. In order to maintain his disguise Ulysses must keep his distance, though he dashes a tear from his eye. Perhaps the reverse of this coin shows how they would've greeted one another, given the chance. With this final reunion, Argus "passed into the darkness of death, now that he had fulfilled his destiny of faith and seen his master once more after twenty years." (Homer's Odyssey, Book 17, lines 290-327)

  2. Winning Losing Won Lost Watching Available in aftersale  
    "Venus of the beautiful buttocks"
    A43, Lot 128:

    Julia Titi. Augusta, A.D. 79-90/1. AR denarius. 3.3 gm. 19 mm. Rome mint. Struck under Titus, A.D. 80-81. Her draped bust right, wearing stephane, hair in long plait at back; IVLIA AVGVSTA TITI AVGVSTI F / Venus standing right, seen half from behind, naked except for drapery around hips, resting elbow on column, holding helmet and transverse spear; VENVS AVGVST. RIC II.1 388. RSC 14. Near Very Fine; attractive old tone. Rare.

    Ex Russell C. Hollingsworth Collection (CNG XXXIV, 6 May 1995, lot 312).

     

    Julia Titi, daughter of the emperor Titus who helped conquer Judaea and in 70 A.D. looted and destroyed the Temple in Jerusalem, was known for her hot temper and wild nature. After her husband’s death she had a scandalous affair with her uncle, the emperor Domitian.

    In A.D. 79 Vespasian died and Titus became sole emperor. One of his first official acts was to raise his daughter Julia to the rank of Augusta, or Empress, the first woman in more than a decade to hold that exalted position. He struck this lovely coin for the occasion. Julia thus became the first reigning Roman empress to be honored with a regular issue of Roman coins struck solely in her own name.

    Venus on the reverse is probably modeled after the late First Century B.C. Roman marble statue "Aphrodite Kallipygos (Callipygian Venus)," which itself is thought to be a copy of an older Greek statue and literally means "Venus (Aphrodite) of the beautiful buttocks.”

  3. Winning Losing Won Lost Watching Available in aftersale  
    Extremely Rare - Titus's daughter
    A43, Lot 129:

    Julia Titi. Augusta, A.D. 79-90/1. Æ dupondius. 12.54 gm. 27.5 mm. Uncertain Balkan mint. Struck under Titus, circa A.D. 80-81. Her draped bust right; IVLIA IMP T AVG F AVGVSTA / Ceres standing left, holding scepter and two grain ears; CERES AVGVST S C. RIC II.1 514 pl. 116 (same dies). RPC II 509 (7 examples). H. Cahn, "An Imperial Mint in Bithynia," INJ 8 (1984-5), 9. BMCRE 255. BN 266 (Titus). Cohen 2. Very Fine; attractive green and brown patina; small area of pitting at top of head on obverse, old and fully patinated; attractive portrait; well centered and pleasing. Extremely rare.

    Ex Harlan Berk BBS 165 (28 July 2009) lot 454. ("The letter forms, particularly the long serifs, show that this coin belongs to the auxiliary mint for bronzes in Thrace, possibly situated at Perinthus.")

     

    Julia Titi is the daughter of the emperor Titus, who served under his father Vespasian in Judea during the First Jewish-Roman War, commanding a Roman legion that captured and destroyed Jerusalem in 70 C.E. As emperor for just two years, he is best known for completing the Colosseum and for his generosity relieving suffering caused by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79 and a fire in Rome in 80. His daughter was known for her hot temper and wild nature. After her husband’s death she had a scandalous affair with her uncle, the emperor Domitian. In A.D. 79 when Vespasian died and Titus became sole emperor, one of his first official acts was to raise his daughter Julia to the rank of Augusta, or Empress, the first woman in more than a decade to hold that exalted position.

    This rare provincial bronze presents a lovely portrait of the elusive Empress, her strong features suggesting an almost uncanny resemblance to her father.

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