An Exceptional Britannicus Sestertius

Sale: Triton XIII, Lot: 312. Estimate $40000.  Closing Date: Monday, 4 January 2010.  Sold For $65000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Britannicus. AD 41-55. Æ Sestertius (29.81 g, 6h). Uncertain Balkan/Thracian mint. Struck under Claudius, circa AD 50-54. TI CLAVDIVS • CAESAR • G • F • BRITANNICVS •, bareheaded and draped bust left / Mars, barefoot, but wearing full military outfit, including sagum (cape), advancing left, holding spear in outstretched right hand and round shield in left; large S C across field. RIC I pg. 130, note; von Kaenel, "Britannicus, Agrippina Minor und Nero in Thrakien," SNR 63 (1984), Type B, 5 (same dies); BMCRE 226 (Claudius). Near EF, brown patina. Extraordinary example of this issue, exhibiting none of the tooling often found on these coins. A truly outstanding specimen.

The attribution of the sestertii of Britannicus has been a matter of some speculation. Formerly, the issue had been attributed to Rome around the end of Claudius’ reign when Britannicus adopted the toga virilis. Mattingly, however, demonstrated that such an attribution was problematic, since the Rome mint was not producing aes at that time. Instead, he assigned the type to the early years of Titus, when many restoration and commemorative issues were being struck, a logical assumption given the reported close friendship between the two. More recently, substantial numbers of Latin coins (sestertii and dupondii) in the name of Britannicus, Agrippina Jr., Nero Caesar, and Nero Augustus have been found in the Balkan region, and von Kaenel argued for a Thracian origin for the series. Von Kaenel’s analysis is plausible, since the style and fabric of the coins, as well as the find spots, indeed suggest a Thracian mint, and such local issues would have been struck for use by the legions servicing the border.

Tiberius Claudius Germanicus was born on 12 February AD 41, only a few weeks after his father Claudius became emperor. After Claudius' conquest of Britain in AD 43, the boy's name was changed to Tiberius Claudius Caesar Britannicus, and the sources refer to him simply as Britannicus. In AD 55 while dining with friends, he was poisoned and died. The murder was almost certainly ordered by Nero who wanted to clear the way for his own succession to the throne.