Vespasian (A.D. 69-79), Gold Aureus, struck at Rome in A.D. 70, head of Vespasian right, wearing laurel-wreath, reverse, Pax seated left, holding branch and caduceus (the staff of Mercury), diameter approximately 17mm, weight 7.20g.
Beautiful red Boscoreale toning, extremely fine.
 Vespasian (A.D. 69-79), Gold Aureus, struck at Rome in A.D. 70 |
This gold coin is from a hoard of treasure discovered in 1895 in the Boscoreale region of Naples under the slopes of Mount Vesuvius.
The entire area was buried by the famous volcanic eruption of Vesuvius in A.D. 79, where the towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum were preserved under layers of ash and pumice.
The Boscoreale Hoard was discovered in the water cistern of a villa, where the owner had hidden it fearing an impending catastrophe.
In fact, it is possible that he was in the process of concealing the coins, with pumice falling from the skies, when the deadly pyroclastic cloud engulfed the region, the intense heat of which imbued all the gold coins with the beautiful red toning that we now see almost 2000 years later.
The coins were preserved in the cistern and, in 1895, were revealed in the same state as when they were buried at the fateful moment in A.D. 79.
(PT3)
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