Triton XIV, Lot: 702. Estimate $5000. Sold for $5500. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Trajan. AD 98-117. AV Aureus (18mm, 7.18 g, 6h). Rome mint. Struck AD 111. IMP TRAIANO AVG GER DAC P M TR P, laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust right / COS • V • P • P • S • P • Q • R • OPTIMO PRINC, ALIM • ITAL in exergue, Trajan, togate, standing left, holding roll in left hand, extending right hand towards boy and girl to left, who stand right, the boy extends left hand up towards Trajan, the girl stretches both hands. RIC II 93 var. (not cuirassed); MIR 14, 345f; Strack 155; Calicó 984; BMCRE 380; BN 427. Good VF, traces of deposits.

From the Collection of a Northern California Gentleman.

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.