Octavian and Divus Julius Caesar "sestertius" (or dupondius)

[GregH]

In the last CNG eAuction, I was the winning bidder of this Octavian / Divus Julius Caesar sestertius (or dupondius).

I sought this coin because i wanted a Julius Caesar portrait (albeit not a lifetime one). Does anyone know much about this denomination? At what point did bronze dupondii or sestertii come into mainstream use in Rome? One would think that being a less valuable denomination, they would be more commonplace, but the denarii seem to be much more common at this point in time.

The Triumvirs. Octavian and Divus Julius Caesar. 38 BC. Æ Sestertius (or Dupondius?) (31.5mm, 19.53 g, 7h). Southern Italian(?) mint. Bare head of Octavian right, wearing slight beard / Laureate head of Divus Julius Caesar right. Crawford 535/1; Alföldi & Giard – (D10/R10 [unlisted combination]); CRI 308; Sydenham 1335; RPC I 620; RBW 1822. Olive green patina, areas of minor roughness, a few light scratches and marks beneath patina. VF.

[Nerosmyfavorite68]

Cool!  I have a lesser example; an unofficial one. I'm no expert, but there were lighter, contemporary copies of worse style.  I wish I had one of the official ones; the best ones are of really good style, ala Sear RCV 1569. I think yours might be official.

[JayAg47]

I don’t know the story behind this coin type, but I know finding one of them in a nice condition is so hard among all the weakly struck, corroded or tooled specimens. I especially like the portrait of Caesar. 

[Ancient Coin Hunter]

Nice acquisition

[Ryro]

Great example! Big coin and coingratulations!!!

My similar style isn't so large and in charge as yours, but does have JC taking it to the neck:

Augustus with Divus Julius Caesar

(27 BC-14 AD) MACEDON. Thessalonica. Obv: ΘEOΣ.

Wreathed head of Julius Caesar right; uncertain c/m on neck.

Rev: ΘEΣΣAΛONIKEΩN.

Bare head of Augustus right; Δ below. RPC I 1554.

Fine. 12.3 g.21 mm.

Former: Numismatik Naumann

 

The D has been interpreted as either a denomination mark (four assaria) or, more likely, a date - year four of the Actian era (28/7 BC). The ligate NK monogram has been generally accepted as a reference to Nero (Nerwn Kaisar). This is problematic considering that Thessalonica had abundant coinages issued under Claudius and Nero, such that countermarking these quite older coins would be unlikely. Touratsoglou (p. 105) follows Kraay's suggestion that the NK is an abbreviation for Nike (NiKh), and was applied to the coins during celebrations of the city's 50th anniversary of its grant of liberty by the Romans. All but two of the known specimens of this countermark occur on the coins of this first issue of Thessalonica, and the wear on the countermarks is nearly identical to that of the coins, suggesting that the countermarks could not have been applied very long after the coins entered circulation

[hotwheelsearl]

I have a small, 21mm example. Patina is really quite excellent except for some areas of coarseness, almost like a lamination flaw or something. Too bad, especially since JC's face is kinda wrecked.

[Alwin]

18 hours ago, GregH said:

Octavian / Divus Julius Caesar sestertius (or dupondius).
Does anyone know much about this denomination?

Octavian & Julius Caesar
"Dupondius"
Italy, 38-37 B.C.
18.38 g - 30 mm
S 1569 - C 3
Le terme sesterce parfois utilisé pour désigner cette émission est abusif ; la dénomination sesterce ne s'applique en effet aux grands bronzes qu'à partir de la réforme monétaire d'Auguste, vers 23 av. J.-C.
Son poids habituel amène plutôt à la comparer aux rares tressis (encore nommés tripondius, soit trois as) frappés par Marc Antoine la même année. Par commodité on choisit pourtant le plus souvent de qualifier cette monnaie de dupondius, comme les grands bronzes frappés en Gaule à la même période.

 

[Robi]

Great coin! This type was one of my first ancient coins in collection, bought on ebay for 20 euros 😉

Fascinating coin!

Sometimes its called a protosestertius, but we can compare it to tressis/tripondius (three asses) struck by M. Antoninus.

It was a coin of Octavianus political propaganda. Julius Caesar, was officially consecrated in 42 BC as Divus Julius, the god, when Julius Caesar legally become a god, Octavian could claim to be indeed the legal son of a god Divi Filius - as proclaim the coin. 

I think that at this point in his career, Octavian did not care about giving a name and creating a new denomination, but about the popularity and favor of the people, so he issued an order to mint a large coin with a wide flane so that it would be clearly visible who was the son of the divine Julius 😉. And there was a lot of minting, with over 20 obverse dies and about 30 reverse. Plus imitation. And we have different weights.

My is 17,7 g. (Second one 15,6), byt i remembered one 25 g.

Greetings,

Robert

 

[Julius Germanicus]

While Octavian was active in the south of the Italian peninsula in 38 b.C, he used Tarentum as base port for his campaign against the renegade Sextus Pompeius. It may have been here that he struck his handsome and enigmatic DIVOS IVLIVS emission as the son of the divine C. Julius Caesar, which is not only a good example of the political propaganda of that time, but can also be seen as the prototype for all roman imperial portrait bronze coins to come.

CAESAR DIVI F  / DIVOS IVLIVS - Sestertius (?), southern Italy, 38 b.C. 30 mm / 19,73 gr

Struck with 21 obverse and 27 reverse dies, this was one of the most abundant bronze emissions produced during the final stage of the Roman Republic. A large number of contemporary imitations, most likely struck in Gaul, are known and feature a cruder style, thin flans and inferior metal. There is a second type (RPC 621, Crawford 535/2) which has the name "DIVOS IVLIVS" in two lines within a laurel-wreath (struck with another 19 obverse and 22 reverse dies) instead of the Caesar portrait on the reverse, but like most collectors I was looking for this version as it features what is the only portrait of the most famous Roman available on a roman bronze coin.

David Sear in the Millenium Edition of his “Roman Coins and their Values” (p. 302, Nr. 1569 and 1570) explicitly presents these coins as “Bronze Sestertius (or dupondius?)” after calling them “Bronze Sestertius or Dupondius” in his “The History and Coinage of the Roman Imperators (p. 189, Nr. 308 and p. 190, Nr. 309) where he continues “… these handsome bronzes of Octavian bear no indication of their denomination. Grueber calls them sestertii whilst Amandry considers them to be dupondii. Either could be correct. The weight standard appears to be between 19 and 20 grams” My coin at 19,73 gr falls right into Sear´s range and would not even be unusually light for an Augustan orichalcum Sestertius (which rarely reached their target weight of an Uncia or or 27,3 gr) while even 17,53 gr would be way too heavy for any Dupondius of Augustus (whose Lugdunum Asses averaged about 13 gr).

The only coins termed as Sestertii at the time were the tiny silver Sestertii of the earlier Republic and the large fleet coinage bronzes (labelled "HS"). However, the silver Sestertius had long fallen out of use while Anthony´s new design with it´s two portraits facing each other was as short-lived as it´s originator. It was Octavian´s DIVOS JULIUS emission that formed the bulk of the large bronze coins in circulation for the next decades, while the familiar Nemausus As (or Dupondius, depending on the material) became the major small bronze coin in use in the western half of the Empire. When the orichalcum Sestertius was introduced by Augustus, I would suggest that it was this coinage that it slowly replaced while the new Asses and Dupondii replaced the Nemausus Asses or Dupondii. By the third century the 19 to 20 grams of the DIVOS JULIUS coinage would be the average weight and the OP coin´s 30 mm diameter the average size of the Sestertius denomination which by then also featured the very same reddish copper tone. In every aspect it was equal to a Sestertius at least by then.

Amandry in 1986 listed 49 specimens of this variety with the Julius Caesar portrait reverse (RPC 620) with weights ranging from as low as 13.02 gr to as high as 27.36 gr with a medium weight of 19.81 an a median of 18.97 gr, whilst the 36 specimens of Cucumbor´s variety with two lines in wreath Amandry looked at ranged from 14.49 to 27,76 gr with a medium of 19.72 and a median of 18.85 gr. This proves that both varieties (which were also struck at the same place and time) were struck at the same weight "standard" which included (in fluid transition) both "heavy" specimens like Cucumbor´s, "average" or "medium" specimens like mine, and "light" specimens, which may in fact be ancient imitations to some extent. The heaviest specimens would certainly qualify as full-weight 1st century Sestertii while the lightest would be equal to Dupondii weight-wise (but of course not as the type of metal is concerned), while the medium specimens would be too heavy to be a Dupondius in any case but still in the (lower) weight range of Sestertii struck in the 1st century while they matched average Sestertii of 150 to 250 a.D. in weight. While the average coin of this type is made of 81 % copper, 4 % tin and 15 % lead (with a higher level of lead in imitations), my OP specimen is identical both in fabric and colour and and in diameter and weight to my Sestertii of the year of five emperors (193 aD.). Therefore it could very well have circulated as a Sestertius but never as a Dupondius.

 

Edited September 30 by Julius Germanicus

[Al Kowsky]

1 hour ago, Julius Germanicus said:

While Octavian was active in the south of the Italian peninsula in 38 b.C, he used Tarentum as base port for his campaign against the renegade Sextus Pompeius. It may have been here that he struck his handsome and enigmatic DIVOS IVLIVS emission as the son of the divine C. Julius Caesar, which is not only a good example of the political propaganda of that time, but can also be seen as the prototype for all roman imperial portrait bronze coins to come.

CAESAR DIVI F  / DIVOS IVLIVS - Sestertius (?), southern Italy, 38 b.C. 30 mm / 19,73 gr

Struck with 21 obverse and 27 reverse dies, this was one of the most abundant bronze emissions produced during the final stage of the Roman Republic. A large number of contemporary imitations, most likely struck in Gaul, are known and feature a cruder style, thin flans and inferior metal. There is a second type (RPC 621, Crawford 535/2) which has the name "DIVOS IVLIVS" in two lines within a laurel-wreath (struck with another 19 obverse and 22 reverse dies) instead of the Caesar portrait on the reverse, but like most collectors I was looking for this version as it features what is the only portrait of the most famous Roman available on a roman bronze coin.

David Sear in the Millenium Edition of his “Roman Coins and their Values” (p. 302, Nr. 1569 and 1570) explicitly presents these coins as “Bronze Sestertius (or dupondius?)” after calling them “Bronze Sestertius or Dupondius” in his “The History and Coinage of the Roman Imperators (p. 189, Nr. 308 and p. 190, Nr. 309) where he continues “… these handsome bronzes of Octavian bear no indication of their denomination. Grueber calls them sestertii whilst Amandry considers them to be dupondii. Either could be correct. The weight standard appears to be between 19 and 20 grams” My coin at 19,73 gr falls right into Sear´s range and would not even be unusually light for an Augustan orichalcum Sestertius (which rarely reached their target weight of an Uncia or or 27,3 gr) while even 17,53 gr would be way too heavy for any Dupondius of Augustus (whose Lugdunum Asses averaged about 13 gr).

The only coins termed as Sestertii at the time were the tiny silver Sestertii of the earlier Republic and the large fleet coinage bronzes (labelled "HS"). However, the silver Sestertius had long fallen out of use while Anthony´s new design with it´s two portraits facing each other was as short-lived as it´s originator. It was Octavian´s DIVOS JULIUS emission that formed the bulk of the large bronze coins in circulation for the next decades, while the familiar Nemausus As (or Dupondius, depending on the material) became the major small bronze coin in use in the western half of the Empire. When the orichalcum Sestertius was introduced by Augustus, I would suggest that it was this coinage that it slowly replaced while the new Asses and Dupondii replaced the Nemausus Asses or Dupondii. By the third century the 19 to 20 grams of the DIVOS JULIUS coinage would be the average weight and the OP coin´s 30 mm diameter the average size of the Sestertius denomination which by then also featured the very same reddish copper tone. In every aspect it was equal to a Sestertius at least by then.

Amandry in 1986 listed 49 specimens of this variety with the Julius Caesar portrait reverse (RPC 620) with weights ranging from as low as 13.02 gr to as high as 27.36 gr with a medium weight of 19.81 an a median of 18.97 gr, whilst the 36 specimens of Cucumbor´s variety with two lines in wreath Amandry looked at ranged from 14.49 to 27,76 gr with a medium of 19.72 and a median of 18.85 gr. This proves that both varieties (which were also struck at the same place and time) were struck at the same weight "standard" which included (in fluid transition) both "heavy" specimens like Cucumbor´s, "average" or "medium" specimens like mine, and "light" specimens, which may in fact be ancient imitations to some extent. The heaviest specimens would certainly qualify as full-weight 1st century Sestertii while the lightest would be equal to Dupondii weight-wise (but of course not as the type of metal is concerned), while the medium specimens would be too heavy to be a Dupondius in any case but still in the (lower) weight range of Sestertii struck in the 1st century while they matched average Sestertii of 150 to 250 a.D. in weight. While the average coin of this type is made of 81 % copper, 4 % tin and 15 % lead (with a higher level of lead in imitations), my OP specimen is identical both in fabric and colour and and in diameter and weight to my Sestertii of the year of five emperors (193 aD.). Therefore it could very well have circulated as a Sestertius but never as a Dupondius.

 

J.G., Fascinating coin & excellent writeup 🤩!

[GregH]

On 9/30/2024 at 10:59 PM, Julius Germanicus said:

While Octavian was active in the south of the Italian peninsula in 38 b.C, he used Tarentum as base port for his campaign against the renegade Sextus Pompeius. It may have been here that he struck his handsome and enigmatic DIVOS IVLIVS emission as the son of the divine C. Julius Caesar, which is not only a good example of the political propaganda of that time, but can also be seen as the prototype for all roman imperial portrait bronze coins to come.

CAESAR DIVI F  / DIVOS IVLIVS - Sestertius (?), southern Italy, 38 b.C. 30 mm / 19,73 gr

Struck with 21 obverse and 27 reverse dies, this was one of the most abundant bronze emissions produced during the final stage of the Roman Republic. A large number of contemporary imitations, most likely struck in Gaul, are known and feature a cruder style, thin flans and inferior metal. There is a second type (RPC 621, Crawford 535/2) which has the name "DIVOS IVLIVS" in two lines within a laurel-wreath (struck with another 19 obverse and 22 reverse dies) instead of the Caesar portrait on the reverse, but like most collectors I was looking for this version as it features what is the only portrait of the most famous Roman available on a roman bronze coin.

David Sear in the Millenium Edition of his “Roman Coins and their Values” (p. 302, Nr. 1569 and 1570) explicitly presents these coins as “Bronze Sestertius (or dupondius?)” after calling them “Bronze Sestertius or Dupondius” in his “The History and Coinage of the Roman Imperators (p. 189, Nr. 308 and p. 190, Nr. 309) where he continues “… these handsome bronzes of Octavian bear no indication of their denomination. Grueber calls them sestertii whilst Amandry considers them to be dupondii. Either could be correct. The weight standard appears to be between 19 and 20 grams” My coin at 19,73 gr falls right into Sear´s range and would not even be unusually light for an Augustan orichalcum Sestertius (which rarely reached their target weight of an Uncia or or 27,3 gr) while even 17,53 gr would be way too heavy for any Dupondius of Augustus (whose Lugdunum Asses averaged about 13 gr).

The only coins termed as Sestertii at the time were the tiny silver Sestertii of the earlier Republic and the large fleet coinage bronzes (labelled "HS"). However, the silver Sestertius had long fallen out of use while Anthony´s new design with it´s two portraits facing each other was as short-lived as it´s originator. It was Octavian´s DIVOS JULIUS emission that formed the bulk of the large bronze coins in circulation for the next decades, while the familiar Nemausus As (or Dupondius, depending on the material) became the major small bronze coin in use in the western half of the Empire. When the orichalcum Sestertius was introduced by Augustus, I would suggest that it was this coinage that it slowly replaced while the new Asses and Dupondii replaced the Nemausus Asses or Dupondii. By the third century the 19 to 20 grams of the DIVOS JULIUS coinage would be the average weight and the OP coin´s 30 mm diameter the average size of the Sestertius denomination which by then also featured the very same reddish copper tone. In every aspect it was equal to a Sestertius at least by then.

Amandry in 1986 listed 49 specimens of this variety with the Julius Caesar portrait reverse (RPC 620) with weights ranging from as low as 13.02 gr to as high as 27.36 gr with a medium weight of 19.81 an a median of 18.97 gr, whilst the 36 specimens of Cucumbor´s variety with two lines in wreath Amandry looked at ranged from 14.49 to 27,76 gr with a medium of 19.72 and a median of 18.85 gr. This proves that both varieties (which were also struck at the same place and time) were struck at the same weight "standard" which included (in fluid transition) both "heavy" specimens like Cucumbor´s, "average" or "medium" specimens like mine, and "light" specimens, which may in fact be ancient imitations to some extent. The heaviest specimens would certainly qualify as full-weight 1st century Sestertii while the lightest would be equal to Dupondii weight-wise (but of course not as the type of metal is concerned), while the medium specimens would be too heavy to be a Dupondius in any case but still in the (lower) weight range of Sestertii struck in the 1st century while they matched average Sestertii of 150 to 250 a.D. in weight. While the average coin of this type is made of 81 % copper, 4 % tin and 15 % lead (with a higher level of lead in imitations), my OP specimen is identical both in fabric and colour and and in diameter and weight to my Sestertii of the year of five emperors (193 aD.). Therefore it could very well have circulated as a Sestertius but never as a Dupondius.

 

This is a really excellent write-up by the way. I love knowing knowing more about my coins.

On a side-note, why are sestertii a feature of the Asterix books when they were not in use in Asterix's time (50-45BC)?

 

cheers

 

[JAZ Numismatics]

Of these coins, our friends at CNG tell us, “The Octavian / Divus Julius Caesar bronzes come at two weight standards, about 18 grams (two-thirds ounce) with round and level flans and lifelike portraits, and at about 10-14 grams with less regular flans and less refined portraits. Certainly of different mintage, the lighter coins are sometimes called imitative. However, the weights, sizes, and fabrics are reasonably consistent within this group. More likely they were semi-official local issues from southern Gaul, perhaps a civic response to the need for large bronze coinage in one or other city in Provence.” The style of this specimen is unquestionably semi-official, al least, if not altogether unofficial.

The Triumvirs. Octavian and Divus Julius Caesar. 38 BC.
Æ Sestertius (or Dupondius?), 30mm, 11.2g, 7h; Southern Italian or Gallic mint.
Obv.: DIVI·F CAESAR; Bare head of Octavian right.
Rev.: DIVOS IVLIVS; Wreathed head of Divus Julius Caesar right.
Reference: Crawford 535/1; CRI 308; RPC I 620.

Edited October 2 by JAZ Numismatics

[Gallienus]

Thanks everyone for the write up on these fascinating coins.  I have one specimen acquired some years back at $950 from the now defunct NFA.  I've heard this coin called a "sestersius"/ "as" because it seems similar in weight the the other bronze coins which were called asses circulating during the Imperatorial era of the Roman Republic.

 

Octavian Caesar sestersius/dupondius
issued 38 BC VF condition
Obv: Portrait of Octavian
Rev: Portrait of Julius Caesar
NFA: Numismatic Fine Arts Auction XXVIII: Spring Mail Bid Sale: Apr 23 1992, lot# 1060)

 

I was torn between buying this or continuing to look for a cheap portrait denarius of J.C. but got this as they were <$1,000.  I'd like to find the Pompean bronzes and the other Caesar bronzes some day.   The British Museum also uses this coin for it's display on Julius Caesar: they don't show a denarius (at least as of 2023).

 

 

Edited October 8 by Gallienus
rearrange