Nomos 23

C. Vibius Varus, 42 BC. Aureus (Gold, 21 mm, 8.04 g, 10 h), Rome. Laureate head of Apollo to right. Rev. C · VIBIVS - VARVS Venus standing left, half draped and with her back to the viewer, looking at herself in a mirror held in her left hand and leaning on a column behind her to right. Babelon (Vibia) 27. Bahrfeldt 36. Biaggi 23. Calicó 33. Crawford 494/34. CRI 90. Sydenham 1137. RBW 1738. An unusually well-struck, well-centered and clear example. Edge bang and some very minor marks, otherwise, extremely fine.

From a European collection acquired prior to 2005.

In the years immediately after Caesar’s murder, both his partisans and those of his enemies, struck vast amounts of coins to pay their armies, including an unprecedented amount of gold aurei. This piece, struck by Gaius Vibius Varus, a later partisan of Antony’s, was struck with a reverse that honoured Caesars putative ancestries: Venus. She is here shown in a well-known, albeit somewhat provocative pose, more than half-nude, leaning her back on a column and gazing at herself in a mirror. In fact, she seems to be creating a pose that was once commonly found in Shepherd’s Market in London: given the fact that these aurei were primarily issued for military pay, that would certainly be appropriate. Below, on lot 217, she is shown a helmet and a long scepter.