Exceptional Consecratio Denarius

Sale: CNG 79, Lot: 1102. Estimate $10000.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 17 September 2008.  Sold For $9000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Diva Marciana. Died AD 112/4. AR Denarius (3.20 g, 7h). Rome mint. Struck under Trajan, AD 114. Draped bust right, wearing stephane / Carpentum, decorated with bas-reliefs, drawn left by two mules. RIC II 746 (Trajan); RSC 10. EF, lightly toned. Very rare.

Trajan was the first Roman emperor to hail from the provinces (he was born in Spain), and was quick to establish his lineage. Members of his family appearing on his coins include his father Trajan Pater, general and consul, his wife Plotina, his sister Marciana and her daughter Matidia. Trajan and Plotina were childless, so the marriage of Matidia’s daughter Sabina to Hadrian, a fellow Spaniard, was arranged to secure the succession. Hadrian was also formally adopted by Trajan, as Trajan was by Nerva, thus establishing the Antonine principle of succession by marriage and adoption.