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                              Description
                                55, Lot: 99. Sextus Pompey. Ć As (20.59 gm). 
                                Mint in Sicily. Circa 43-36 BC. Estimate $150. 
                                Sold For $144 

                                SEXTUS POMPEY. Ć As (20.59 gm). Mint in Sicily. 
                                Circa 43-36 BC. Laureate head of Janus with 
                                "juvenile" features, MAGN above / Prow of galley 
                                right, PIVS above, IMP below. Martini, Sextus 
                                Pompeius, 874 (same obverse die). Near VF. 
                                Green-brown patina. ($150)
                                After the defeat of his father and brother by 
                                Julius Caesar, Sextus Pompey set up shop in 
                                Sicily and carried on as a pirate king, raiding 
                                Roman commerce and making a nuisance of himself 
                                to Octavian, Caesar's successor as ruler of 
                                Italy. Repeated attempts by Octavian to corral 
                                Sextus failed ignominiously, once nearly costing 
                                Octavian his life. In 39 BC, Sextus entered into 
                                a power-sharing agreement with Octavian and his 
                                fellow Triumvirs, Mark Antony and Lepidus. But 
                                he continued to serve as a magnet for Senatorial 
                                resistance and disaffection, so Octavian renewed 
                                hostilities the following year. The brilliant 
                                admiral Agrippa finally defeated Sextus at 
                                Naulochos in 36 BC, but he escaped, fleeing to 
                                Antony, who kept him alive as a bargaining chip 
                                for awhile, then executed him. The as coinage in 
                                the name of Pompey the Great is catelogued 
                                sequentially by Martini according to the obverse 
                                bust. First a traditional head of Janus, then a 
                                janiform head of Pompey the Great, followed by 
                                successive series of “mature” and “juvenile” 
                                imitative portraits. He attributes the 
                                “juvenile” heads to Sicily under Pompey’s son 
                                Sextus. They are probably portraits of Sextus, 
                                the last surviving supporter of his father’s 
                                party in the civil war.






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From cngcoins.com on-site auction number 55, closed December 18, 2002.

Used by permission of CNG.