Ancient Rome Vespasian Denarius and Aureus with Bull Right 69AD to 79AD

These silver denarii (plural of denarius) and gold aurei (plural of aureus) were issued, as Norma V. correctly mentions, in Vespasian's seventh term of Consular Power. He held the office for the seventh time in 76 AD, so we can safely date the striking of the coin to this year.

The bull on the reverse is by some considered to be the 'Heifer of Myron'. Myron was an ancient Greek sculptor working in the 5th century BC, and his statues of bulls and minotaurs were famous well into the Roman period. The coin can then be considered to not show a bull, but merely a very life-like statue of a bull, as carved by a sculptor in the 5th century BC and then immortalized on a coin by an engraver in the 1st century AD.

Others consider the bull to simply be a bull, and place the coin as 'part of Vespasian's agrarian series promoting the agricultural productivity of Italia and his responsibility for it.'

DENARII (struck in silver):
worn: $100 US dollars approximate catalog value
average circulated: $325
well preserved: $750

AUREI (struck in gold):
worn: $4000
average circulated: $6500
well preserved: $12000

Remember that ancient coins each stand on their own merit. Many things, such as sharpness of strike, centering of the images, legibility of the inscriptions, and quality of the flan all weigh in on an ancient coin's value. For example, the pictured aurei of magnificent quality, possibly the finest known, was sold for $37,500 at auction in 2014 by Heritage Auctions. CoinQuest is indebted to Heritage for use of their coin photo.

Be wary of fakes with rare and expensive coins like these. Know the seller or know the coin! If you aren't sure about the coin, only buy from sellers you know and trust.

The values used on this page are catalog values - please refer to our Important Terminology page found at the top left in order to convert them into actual buy and sales values
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