Lucilla, Augusta, 164-182. Aureus (Gold, 19 mm, 7.28 g, 12 h), Rome, 164. LVCILLA AVGVSTA Draped bust of Lucilla to right. Rev. PVDI-CITIA Pudicitia standing front, head to left, raising veil with her right hand and skirt with her left. BMC 347. Calicó 2216. Cohen 59. MIR 38-2/1c. RIC 779. A very well struck example with a charming portrait in high relief and with an illustrious pedigree. Very minor die breaks and a few very light marks, otherwise, extremely fine.

This magnificent aureus of Lucilla, boasting an impressive provenance dating back to the 1880s, features a superbly detailed and perfectly centered bust of the empress. The reverse depicts the goddess Pudicitia ('Modesty', or sexual virtue), a common motif not only for Lucilla but for many Roman empresses, symbolizing idealized feminine virtue. Lucilla was the younger daughter of Emperor Marcus Aurelius and his wife, Faustina the Younger, and the twin sister of Gemellus, who tragically died in infancy. She was also the elder sister of Commodus, who would later ascend the throne. In 161, Marcus Aurelius arranged her marriage to his adoptive brother and co-emperor, Lucius Verus, when Lucilla was between 11 and 13 years old (her exact birth year remains uncertain, but it likely falls between 148 and 150). The marriage was not consummated until 164. The couple had three children, one of whom died in infancy. After Verus' death in 169, Lucilla was remarried to the Syrian senator Tiberius Claudius Pompeianus, with whom she had another child. Commodus' erratic behavior following his accession alarmed Lucilla, prompting her to conspire against him in 182 in an attempt to install her husband as emperor. The plot - arguably a justified act of desperation - was uncovered. Lucilla was exiled to Capri, where later that year, a centurion sent by her brother carried out her execution