ALIM ITAL

CNG 84, Lot: 1016. Estimate $1000. Sold for $1400. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Trajan. AD 98-117. Æ Sestertius (30mm, 26.86 g, 6h). Rome mint. Struck AD 103. Laureate bust right, slight drapery / ALIM ITAL in exergue, Abundantia (or Annona) standing right, resting hand on child at her side and presenting another child to Trajan, seated left on curule chair, holding scepter. RIC II 461; Banti 12. VF, brown surfaces with even light roughness. Very rare.

Desirous to favor the Italian people after the ravages of the civil wars, Trajan was especially nurturing toward the youth, many of whom were destitute and impoverished. At the expense of the state, these children were raised and, in some cases, adopted by the emperor himself. It was these acts to which the reverse of this type alludes, with the concept of ALIMenta ITALiae, the nourishment and resources provided to Italy, represented by the personification of Abundantia (or Annona) along with the emperor.