Marcus Antonius. Aureus, mint moving with M. Antonius 32-31, AV 7.99 g. ANT·AVG Galley r. with sceptre tied with fillet on prow; below, III VIR·R P·C. Rev. Aquila between two standards; in field, LEG – IV. Babelon Antonia 109. C 31. Bahrfeldt 93. Sydenham 1218. Sear Imperators 351. Calicó 93. RBW –. Crawford 544/2.
Of the highest rarity, apparently three specimens known and the only one
in private hands. Perfectly centred on a broad flan. Edge marks,
otherwise very fine

Marcus Antonius struck his "legionary" coinage in vast quantities as he and the Egyptian queen Cleopatra VII prepared for war with Octavian. In the end, their efforts proved futile: Antonius and Cleopatra fled the battle at Actium on September 2, 31 B.C. once they realized they would not win the day. Antonius fled back to Alexandria, where he subsequently committed suicide and Cleopatra narrowly escaped being the trophy of Octavian's triumph when she took her own life by the bite of a poisonous asp. Twenty-three legions are named in Antonius' "legionary" coinage, and though he struck untold millions of debased denarii, the same cannot be said of his high-purity aurei. Aurei are recorded for only seven of the numbered legions as well as for the named units of the cohortes speculatorum and the cohorts praetoriae. We might presume aurei were struck as companions to each denarius issue, but that a low survival rate has left us with an incomplete record.