EMPIRE, GOLD AUREUS OF CRISPINA, Rome, 180-183 AD, 7.271g, 12h. Calicó 2377. Very rare. Nicely toned. Perfectly centered and struck on a broad flan. Of lovely style with a delicate and serene portrait. Possibly the finest known. Superb extremely fine. Former Russell Burrage (1889-1959) collection; former John Glas Sandeman (1836-1921) collection, Sotheby 1911 lot 35; former George Sparkes (1810-1878) collection Considered by contemporaries as being one of the beauties of her time... Crispina had the misfortune to be married to one of the most unstable of the Roman emperors, Commodus, who through his insane behaviour brought to an end the roman golden age of peace and prosperity. The marriage seems to have been a rocky one, its dissensions fueled by the emperor’s increasing paranoia. She was banished to Capri on a charge of adultery (according to Cassius Dio) and there executed in 183. This exceptional aureus was probably issued just prior to her downfall, the portrait being that of a beautiful and mature woman in her early twenties.