Vespasian, 69-79. Sestertius (Orichalcum, 35 mm, 26.77 g, 6 h), Rome, 71. IMP CAESAR VESPASIANVS AVG P M T P P P COS III Laureate and draped bust of Vespasian to right. Rev. IVDAEA CAPTA / S C Palm tree with two bunches of dates; to left, male captive standing right with his hands bound behind his back; behind him, a pile of shields surmounted by a helmet; to right, Judaea, draped and veiled, seated right on cuirass in attitude of mourning, resting her head on her left hand; at her feet to right, shield. BMC -. Bromberg -. CBN -. Cohen -. Hendin -, cf. 6528 (bust type). RIC 81 (this coin cited). Samel -. Shoshana -. Extremely rare and of great historical importance, the finest known example and very possibly the prototype of the series. Slightly rough and with traces of corrosion, otherwise, about extremely fine.



This remarkable sestertius belongs to the earliest and most elaborate phase of the IVDAEA CAPTA bronze coinage. The unusually broad and carefully modelled bust, with its prominent drapery and fully indicated shoulder, stands apart from the more conventional portraits of the later issues, while the reverse is likewise exceptional for the richness and precision of its detail. Kraay singled out this very die combination as 'an unusually splendid and ample version of the type', suggesting that it might represent the prototype for the series as a whole (C. M. Kraay, The Bronze Coinage of Vespasian: Classification and Attribution, in: Scripta Nummaria Romana (1978), p. 53). The present coin itself is cited in RIC under no. 81, further underlining its importance for the definition of this exceptional early issue.

While this interpretation cannot be proved, it is noteworthy that the elaborate obverse treatment was not continued, and subsequent reverses were progressively simplified; notably, after this exceptional portrait die had been withdrawn, the present reverse die was paired with a more conventional obverse (see the note in Leu 75 (1999) 1481). Whether or not the coin was conceived as an actual prototype, it clearly stands at the beginning of the development of the IVDAEA CAPTA sestertii and preserves the type in one of its most ambitious and fully realised forms.