The Liberalitas Issue of AD 229

CNG 84, Lot: 1126. Estimate $500. Sold for $750. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Severus Alexander. AD 222-235. Æ Sestertius (30mm, 23.73 g, 12h). Rome mint. Special issue, AD 229. Laureate head right / Alexander seated left on curule chair set on platform; in front, Liberalitas standing left, holding abacus and cornucopia; behind, an officer and a soldier standing left, soldier holding spear; to left, citizen mounting steps to decorated platform. RIC IV 578 var. (bust type); BMCRE 564 var. (same); Banti 41. VF, dark brown patina. Attractive surfaces. Rare, Banti records only seven examples.

Lauding Severus Alexander as a generous emperor, this Liberalitas reverse type conveys the distribution of a sum of money and other supplies to the people. Indicated as his fourth such act of kindness and benevolence toward the citizens of Rome, she is depicted next to the emperor holding an abacus (a counting board which showed the amount of money, grain, and other articles of consumption which had been given) and a cornucopia, both exemplifying the congiaria bestowed unto the public.