Agrippina was the sister, wife and mother of an emperor and was held in high regard by the Roman people. Despite this, there are few women in the history of the Roman Empire with as terrible a reputation as hers. But is that reputation justified? We investigate with the help of coins from the Künker Auction 341.
“We continue to live in the good old days of the Republic.” This is what Augustus wanted to convey to his contemporaries after the bloody civil war. But his completely new and high-quality coins speak an entirely different language, as Florian Haymann points out.
On 7 October 2019, auction house Künker will be auctioning a necklace and bracelet made from ancient coins, said to have been commissioned by the great general Napoleon Bonaparte for his younger sister Pauline. That would make sense: In Napoleon’s time, people loved anything that was reminiscent of antiquity.
Why is it that for centuries – or rather thousands of years – the head has served as the motif for the side of a coin? And why has this changed in the last 200 years? This chapter of the series ‘Human Faces’ looks at Nero and the closing of the gates of the Temple of Janus.
Why is it that for centuries – or rather thousands of years – the head has served as the motif for the side of a coin? And why has this changed in the last 200 years? This chapter of the series ‘Human Faces’ looks at Caesar’s self-portrayal as the most powerful man in Rome.
Josephus tells us of a most interesting meeting in Tiberias, apparently convened by Agrippa I (37-44 CE), grandson of Herod the Great, probably around 42 CE…
The image of the Temple of Augustus on the sestertii of Caligula is among the most beautiful architectural motifs found on Roman coins. In its upcoming auction, Numismatica Genevensis is offering the finest known specimen of this fascinating issue.
The last series of gold staters issued by British ruler Tasciovanos poses a riddle to experts as the coins differ considerably from previous series. A possible explanation now suggests that the gold staters were made as tribute money to Augustus.
Coins featuring the portrait of Brutus are extremely rare. Coin portraits of Cassius, even more so. Thus far, there is only one known coin type which probably depicts the staunch Republican. In the forthcoming Künker Fall Auction 280, you can come face to face with both assassins of Caesar.
In its Auction 333 to be held on November 30, 2017, the long-standing auction house Hess-Divo offers a particularly remarkable special collection, the Galba Collection. It is dedicated to the Roman Emperor Galba, as the first emperor who no longer stemmed from the Julio-Claudian dynasty. We tell his story through some of the rarities stemming from this collection.
