191, Lot: 284. Estimate $150. Sold for $760. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Septimius Severus. AD 193-211. Æ Sestertius (32mm, 31.17 g, 12h). British victory issue. Rome mint. Struck circa AD 210-211. Laureate head right / VICTORIAE BRITTANNICAE, trophy flanked by Victory to left and bound captive and female figure to right. RIC IV -; Banti -; BMC -; Cohen 733. Near VF, rough brown surfaces. Very rare. Type cited in Cohen, but Banti doubted its existence.

From the J. S. Wagner Collection.

In AD 208 Septimius Severus together with the entire imperial family (his wife Julia Domna and their sons Caracalla and Geta) 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 and was destined never to return to Rome. Together with his elder son, the co-emperor Caracalla, he campaigned vigorously beyond the imperial frontier, penetrating far into Scotland. The line of their marching-camps can still be detected today by aerial photography. Severus also restored Hadrian's Wall, the northern frontier of the province, which was in serious need of renovation now that more than eighty years had passed since its construction.