222, Lot: 394. Estimate $500. Sold for $525. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Plotina. Augusta, AD 105-123. Æ Sestertius (33mm, 23.89 g, 6h). Rome mint. Struck circa AD 112. Diademed and draped bust right / Fides standing right, holding grain ears and basket of fruits. RIC II 740 (Trajan). Fair, green and black patina, some roughness and deposits. Rare.

Pompeia Plotina, born at Nemausus in about AD 70, married Trajan before he became emperor. She did not receive recognition on the coinage until 112, the year of family evocation for the emperor, Traianus Maior, Nerva, Marciana, and Matidia. Childless, she was admired for the simplicity, dignity, fidelity, and virtue that she mixed with her beauty. Although she refused the title Augusta in 100, she finally accepted it in 105. Plotina was present at the death of Trajan in Cilicia in 117 and facilitated the adoption of Hadrian as his successor. Hadrian, in turn, honored her on coins in 117-118, and consecrated her upon her death in 121.