ALDINE DEVICE Silver denarius with profile portrait of the E

Sale 2291 - Lot 5

Price Realized: $ 450

?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price

Estimate: $ 250 - $ 350

(ALDINE DEVICE.) Silver denarius with profile portrait of the Emperor Titus on the obverse and anchor-and-dolphin device on the reverse, 18 mm in diameter. Roman Empire, 80 A.D.

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the iconographic source of the aldine anchor-and-dolphin device, probably the most widely known early printer's mark; Aldus is said to have received one of these coins as a gift from Pietro Bembo. From its first use within a double rule border (see lot 98), which was then altered to a dot border (e. g., lots 44 and 117), the woodcut device continued to evolve through the 16th century in various sizes, with and without borders and text. Anders Ollfors, 'The Anchor and the Dolphin and some Other Printer's Devices,' Dais Philesistephanos: Studies in Honour of Professor Staffan Fogelmark (2004), pages 322-31.