Tacite (275-276)
Aureus - Ticinum (275-276).
Monnaie habilement restaurée sur la tranche à 2 heures - Semble unique.
Exemplaire de la collection Giuseppe Mazzini (1883-1961) et de la collection Leo Biaggi (1906-1979), N°1606 et de la vente NAC 34 du 24 novembre 2006, N°196 et de la vente Künker 124 du 16 mars 2007, N°7656 et de la vente New York Sale XXXII du 8 janvier 2014, N°44.
4.54g - Cal. 4117 (cet exemplaire) - RIC V-2 online N°3386 (cet exemplaire).
Superbe - AU

This coin was issued at about 70/72 to the pound (i.e. 4.6 grams), whilst Tacitus also emitted a heavier gold coinage at 50 to the pound (i.e. 6.5 grams) which is sometimes radiate (biniones) but not always – his monetary system remains unclear. Similarly, what we know about the emperor Tacitus comes from various writers (Historia Augusta, Eutropius, Aurelius Victor), but they contradict each other. For example, the claim that he was a descendant of Tacitus – the second-century author – is probably erroneous. He also probably was not in his seventies when he ascended the throne in October or November AD 275, but some twenty years younger. And – though he might have been wealthy – it is unlikely that he really had a personal fortune of some 280 million sesterces. But some facts are certain: he deified Aurelian and pursued his murderers, he named his half-brother Florian praefectus praetorio, and he went with him to Asia Minor to defend the empire from invasions coming from the Caucasus – where he defeated the Goths. Afterwards, he intended to come back to the Rhine area to fight other barbarian attacks, but died in June or July AD 276 at Tyana in Cappadocia – possibly of illness, or assassinated by revolted soldiers from Syria. He was then succeeded by Florian but he too died shortly after whilst fighting against the troops of Probus.