T. Aelius Antoninus and T. Aurelius Antoninus

CNG 88, Lot: 1339. Estimate $750. Sold for $1500. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Antoninus Pius. AD 138-161. Æ Sestertius (30mm, 24.23 g, 12h). Rome mint. Struck AD 149. Laureate bust right, slight drapery / Crossed cornucopias from which a grape bunch flanked by two grain ears hang, surmounted by busts of two boys, vis-à-vis. RIC III 857; Banti 411. Good VF, attractive, chestnut-brown patina, hairline flan crack. Rare.

The infants are thought to be T. Aelius Antoninus and T. Aurelius Antoninus, the twin sons of Marcus Aurelius and Faustina Junior born in AD 149. These were the first male offspring of the couple, offering hope for the establishment of the new dynasty, but both died in infancy. This coin design was modeled on the sestertius of the sons of Drusus and Livia Drusilla (Livilla), Tiberius and Germanicus Gemellus (cf. RIC I 42 (Tiberius).