Very Rare Issue

244, Lot: 442. Estimate $200. Sold for $6500. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Antoninus Pius. AD 138-161. Æ Sestertius (33mm, 24.36 g, 12h). Rome mint. Struck AD 143. Laureate and draped bust right, seen from behind / REX QVADIS DATVS, S C in exergue, Pius standing left, presenting a diadem to the king of the Quadi standing right. RIC III 620. VF, dark greenish-brown patina, surfaces a bit rough, some smoothing in fields. Very rare.

The Quadi were a Germanic tribe situated along the Danube. Not a great deal is known of them, and the identity of the king pictured on this coin is uncertain. They were a formidable enemy of Marcus Aurelius during the Marcomannic Wars, and it was against the tribe that the Romans triumphed thanks to the famous “miracle of the rain” depicted on the column of Marcus.