182, Lot: 228. Estimate $100. Sold for $230. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Antoninus Pius. AD 138-161. Æ Sestertius (33mm, 23.60 g). Rome mint. Struck AD 141. Laureate head right / Decastyle temple. RIC III 651; BMCRE 1324; Cohen 1075. Near VF, dark grayish-green patina, deposits, rough surfaces.

The great temple of Venus and Rome, actually two temples that were back to back (the temple of Venus faced the Flavian ampitheatre and that of Rome overlooked the Forum) was designed by Hadrian himself. Construction began in 121 AD and remained unfinished on Hadrian's death in 138 AD. Construction was finally completed in 141 AD under Antoninus Pius, the event celebrated by this coin. The temple would be destroyed by fire in 307 and later rebuilt by Maxentius, the remains of which can still be seen in Rome today.