Last Adlocutio Issue

CNG 87, Lot: 964. Estimate $1500. Sold for $2750. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Gaius (Caligula). AD 37-41. Æ Sestertius (35mm, 27.80 g, 6h). Rome mint. Struck AD 40-41. Laureate head left / Gaius standing left on daïs, extending right hand in gesture of address; behind him a sella castrensis (camp stool); in front of him stand five soldiers right, all helmeted, holding shields, and parazonia; four aquilae behind them; no S C in legend. RIC I 48. Near VF, brown surfaces, some minor smoothing, trace of porosity on obverse, light scratches on reverse. Good portrait coin. Very rare TR P IIII issue.

Before a battle or on parade, the emperor would address his troops in an event known as an adlocutio cohortium (address to the cohorts). This was an important opportunity for the emperor to be present among his troops to inspire morale. This sestertius was issued on the occasion of a donative for the Praetorian Guard and was the first to employ the adlocutio as a reverse type.