202, Lot: 260. Estimate $500. Sold for $744. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Hadrian. AD 117-138. Æ Sestertius (34mm, 24.91 g, 6h). Rome mint. Struck AD 119-121. Laureate bust right, drapery on far shoulder / Lictor standing left, holding fasces, setting fire to heap of bonds on the ground to left with brand. RIC II 590b; Mazzini 1210 (this coin). VF, glossy dark green patina, some minor roughness on either side.

From the White Mountain Collection.

In July of 118 AD, Hadrian made his first appearance in Rome as emperor to celebrate a Parthian triumph in the name of Trajan. He was quickly called away to Moesia to subdue the Sarmatians and Roxolani. While away, four high ranking senators, Lucius Quietus, Cornelius Palma, L. Publius Celsus and C. Avidius were executed by the senate for an alleged conspiracy against Hadrian, despite a promise by Hadrian not to execute members of the Senate. To calm a suspicious public, Hadrian held a week long gladiatorial show, granted an extra public largesse and, as this coin advertises, relinquished the public debt to the state equaling 900 million sestertii. This event culminated in an elaborate ceremony held in the Forum of Trajan where all records of these debts were set on fire.