163, Lot: 317. Estimate $750. Sold for $550. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Septimius Severus. AD 193-211. Æ As (26mm, 12.37 g). Rome mint. Struck AD 211. Laureate head right / VICT BRIT P M TR P XIX COS III P P, Victory standing right, holding vexillum; captives at her feet. RIC 812a. Good VF, green patina, rough in spots.

In 208 Septimius Severus together with the entire imperial family set out for Britain where the situation on the northern frontier demanded urgent attention. He was to spend the last two and a half years of his life in the island province. Together with his elder son, the co-emperor Caracalla, he campaigned vigorously beyond the imperial frontier, penetrating far into Scotland. Severus also restored Hadrian's Wall, the northern frontier of the province, which was in dire need of renovation now that more than eighty years had elapsed since its original construction. Little is known of the success of these military operations, though they were to bring peace to the area for the remainder of the third century.