Forces of Vitellius in Gaul and in the Rhine Valley. Anonymous, 2 January-19 April 69. Denarius (Subaeratus, 17 mm, 2.77 g, 7 h), uncertain mint in the Rhine Valley. 'Plated Jupiter-Vesta Group', Bocciarelli groupe 2. VESIA (sic!) P R QVIRITIVM Veiled, diademed and draped bust of Vesta to right; before, burning torch. Rev. I O MAX CAPITOLI-NVS The Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus on the Capitoline Hill: distyle temple with wreath in pediment and acroteria in the form of aphlasta; within, statue of Jupiter seated left, holding thunderbolt in his right hand and scepter in his left. BMC 70. Bocciarelli AV16/RV6. CG 15.6 (this coin). Cohen 368. Martin 13. Nicolas 15 and pl. XVII, 15 OX1-OX2 (same dies). RIC 128. Rare. A lightly toned and unusually well preserved example. Some breaks in plating, otherwise, good very fine.


For a longer discussion of the 'Jupiter-Vesta Group', see lot 1155 above. Bocciarelli divided the plated examples into two groups, which he assigned to two separate mints in Germania Superior and Germania Inferior. Interestingly, he was able to show through numerous die links that the anonymous 'Plated Jupiter-Vesta Group' was struck alongside plated portrait denarii of Vitellius (see lots 1171-1172 below). Following Kraay's suggestion to view the anonymous Jupiter-Vesta coinage as intended for use in Italy to subvert Otho's forces (see lot 1163 above), Bocciarelli argues that the plated coins were struck in military mints in the Rhine Valley in late 68 and early 69, where supply in silver was scanty and a tradition of striking subaerati, as we have seen, already existed. His argument is strengthened by the copying of reverse types in the 'Plated Jupiter-Vesta Group' from the 'Fides Group' struck by the Rhine Legions in 68, at least a number of which were struck by reusing old reverse dies (Bocciarelli pl. 1-2). The solid and fine style aurei and denarii of the 'Jupiter-Vesta Group', on the other hand, were, in his belief, struck somewhat later, after Vitellius' advance to southern Gaul, when his forces seized skilled artists and workshops.

What speaks against such a reconstruction of events, however, is the emergence of a small globe below the bust of a plated portrait denarius of Vitellius in Bocciarelli's group 2 (see lot 1171 below). Clearly this, as well as the portrait and reverse type, is modelled after the imperator's portrait denarii from his Spanish mint (see RIC I, pl. 30, 33), not vice versa, and thus the coin cannot have been struck early in Vitellius' revolt. As a consequence, the 'Plated Jupiter-Vesta Group' must be contemporary to the fine style 'Jupiter-Vesta Group', not earlier. Still, this cataloguer agrees with Bocciarelli's general assignment of the former to military mints in the Rhine Valley (or to moving military mints), rather than to a mere forger's workshop. The latter, on the other hand, struck in solid metal and fine style, was likely issued in Lugdunum, alongside the early portrait issues of Vitellius (see lot 1163 above).