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A great opportunity to acquire a JC portrait coin : Vienna dupondius


Qcumbor

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Hi there

Among the dual portrait coins (dupondii) minted in Gaul at the end of the republic, just before Octavian switched to Augustus, some of them feature a portrait of Julius Caesar himslef together with Octavian (Vienna, Lugdunum), while others show portraits of Octavian and Agrippa (Nemausus).

I had already found halved Vienna dupondii in the past, and was a bit unsatified with the JC half since it was very worn, but very pleased with the other half (Octavian) I had found previously.

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Last december, at Leu, was offered the full version and I sort of cleverly thought it would be nice to have the two folks reunited, especially so as the two portraits were more than decent :

 

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JULIUS CAESAR and OCTAVIAN – Dupondius, Vienna (Gaul), ca. 36 BCE
•IMP• [DIVI•IVL•CAESAR•DIVI•]F bare headed portraits of Julius Caesar to left and Octavian to right
C•I•V Prow of galley to right, surmounted by superstructure and mast (CIV for Colonia Ivlia Viennensis)
31 mm – 16,67 gr - 12 h
Ref : RPC # 517, SNG Copenhagen # 703-4
Provenance : Leu web Auction # 28/2161

 

Vienna

The Colonia Julia Viennensis (today Vienne, France, not to be confused with Vienna, Austria) was a gallic (Allobroges) fortified settlement (oppidum) before it became a roman colony ca 47 BCE. During the Gallic war, Julius Caesar had troops stationed in Vienna, and in 45 BCE, Tiberius Claudius Nero had some auxillaries settling down there too. After Caesar’s assassination, a revolt chased out the latters who therefore founded Lugdunum (today Lyon, France), which would quickly become the capital city in Gaul.

Even though it is located only 20 miles south of Lugdunum, Vienna remained an important provincial capital. Some major roman constructions are still visible in the city, such as the temple of Augustus and Livia or the roman theater, where a famous international jazz festival takes place every summer

1080px-vienne_%E2%80%94temple_d-u2019augTemple d’Auguste et Livie : By Troyeseffigy - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=21162568

 

1280px-vienne-cavea-du-haut-jpg.1204333Theatre gallo romain : By Hélène Rival - Own work, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4661055

 

The funny thing about it is while I was waiting for the coin to arrive home, my wife and I had the opportunity to Visit vienna. As it was december, the outside was not very welcoming and we visited the Romano Gallic museum in Saint Romain en Gal (old Vienna) instead, which is a must see, with lots of everyday's life artifacts, models of what it looked like back then, and the actual mosaics that have been found by archaeologists

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Please, post anything relevant or irrelevant you would like to see here 😄 

Q

 

Edited by Qcumbor
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Great coin. I am currently waiting for my "similar" example to arrive. When I say similar I mean the more common Nemausus version with Agrippa and Augustus. 

Overpaid (a little), not happy at all with the shipping - delayed and the house chose a cheap shipping method although they charged me for a premium service, but in the end it was a type I wanted. 

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I visited Vienna a last time about 10 years ago. I'll never forget the great mosaic you see entering : beautiful !!! just as the museum and the ruins of the townand the city. Also very interesting is the archaeological museum of Lyon-Lugdunum. There I saw a denarius of August with his 2 adopted sons, found in the grave of a soldier who died in the battle of Septimius Severus, about 200 years later with contemporary denarii. I think this coin was a talisman for him, but not a good one.....

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  • 1 month later...

NICE, CUKE !!!

Here are a couple minted near your home...

 

I understand that this may be one of the first issues struck at Lugdunum...

image.jpeg.e2f217ecc36b1cf5d57cdc65be2672f0.jpeg

RImp Marc Antony 43 BCE AR Quinarius 13mm 1.67g Lugdunum Winged bust Victory-probly Fulvia Lion DVNI LVGV Cr 489-5 Syd 1160

 

image.jpeg.beeeb6ce37937a71c9b1c414df71f57a.jpeg

RI GALBA 68-69 BCE AR Quinarius Lugdunum mint laureate r Victory globe stdng left 15mm 1.5g RIC 131 scarce

 

RIROMACE330-331CommemAEFollis2.6g20x16mmLugdunumVRBSROMAShe-wolfTwinsStarsRICVII247Left.JPG.5064282cea18989c889360f683909dd4.JPG

RI ROMA CE 330-331Commem AE Follis 2.6g 20x16mm Lugdunum VRBS ROMA She-wolf Twins Stars RIC VII 247 Left

 

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