Stater - Aspurgus Augustus and Agrippa

Aspurgus had spent decades navigating the increasingly dangerous business of client kingship under Rome, and his decision to issue coinage bearing both his own portrait and that of Agrippa — by then already dead for over two decades — was a calculated piece of political theatre. Agrippa had been his patron and the architect of his legitimacy in Roman eyes; keeping that connection visible on the coinage long after Agrippa's death in 12 BC served a dynastic purpose that had nothing to do with commemoration and everything to do with survival.

The Bosporan stater series is notably consistent in weight across this period, which makes die-linked specimens traceable across collections. Dewing 2106 is the reference point for most auction comparisons.