Trajan’s Harbor - Very Rare Type

229, Lot: 429. Estimate $500. Sold for $2100. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Trajan. AD 98-117. Æ Sestertius (33mm, 23.35 g, 6h). Rome mint. Struck AD 106-111. Laureate and draped bust right / PORTVM TRAIANI, basin of Trajans harbor, surrounded by warehouses and ships in center. RIC II 632. Fine, rough brown and green patina. Very rare.

Documentation in ancient sources is plentiful concerning the Port of Trajan (cf. Pliny, Ep. 6.31, letter to Cornelianus); however, the exact location of the port is uncertain. In Untersuchungen zur Römischen Reichsprägung des Zweiten Jahrhunderts, teil 1, Die Reichsprägung zur Zeit des Traian, pp.212-3, Strack claims that it is the harbour of Trajan at Ostia as opposed to that at Centumcellae. Mattingly, in the introduction to BMCRE, vol. II, pg.civ, questions Strack's conclusion. Perhaps future archaeological fieldwork will determine the precise location of the port depicted on this issue.