Via Traiana

Sale: CNG 82, Lot: 1008. Estimate $2000.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 16 September 2009.  Sold For $1300. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Trajan. AD 98-117. Æ Sestertius (28.09 g, 6h). Rome mint. Struck circa AD 112-115. Laureate bust right, slight drapery / Woman (Via Traiana) reclining left, head right, resting elbow on rock, holding wheel balanced on knee and cradling branch. RIC II 636; Banti 347. Good VF, green patina, flan crack, retouched in a few places, lightly tooled. Rare, Banti records only 5 examples.

The Via Traiana, constructed at Trajan's own expense between AD 109 and AD 113, replaced the Via Appia as the usual route between Brindisium to Beneventum, serving as an important link between Rome and the East.