69, Lot: 140. Estimate $100. Sold for $130. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

CARACALLA. 198-217 AD. Æ Sestertius (33mm, 26.90 gm). British Victory issue. Struck 210 AD. Laureate head right, seen from behind, slight drapery on left shoulder / Mars advancing right, holding olive branch and trophy. RIC IV 450(b); Cohen 474. Near VF, brown surfaces, slightly worn at high points, flan crack, stripped.

Beginning in 208 AD. Caracalla travelled north with his father and brother to quell a disturbance which had arisen in Britain; Septimius Severus used this opportunity to remove his sons for awhile from the capital where the supporters of each young man had caused a great deal of discord. In a move to provide each son with valuable experience, Caracalla accompanied his father northward and between 209 and 210 AD, the Roman forces under their command enjoyed the military successes which this aureus commemorates; Geta, meanwhile, remained behind overseeing the civil administration of both the province and the empire. Things the following year came to a head, however, when Severus died in early February 211 AD at York. The British campaign was halted, the young successors returned to Rome, and Caracalla soon had his younger co-emperor assassinated in their mother's arms.