281, Lot: 318. Estimate $100. Sold for $60. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Hadrian. AD 117-138. Æ Sestertius (32mm, 21.94 g, 6h). Rome mint. Struck circa AD 124-128. Laureate bust right, slight drapery / Emperor seated left on curule chair set on platform, extending hand to child held in a woman’s arms; at her side stands a child, holding her tunic; LIBERTAS RESTI/TVTA in two lines in exergue. RIC II 568; Banti 517. Fine, brown surfaces. Rare.

While emperors often used the theme of “Libertas” in order to juxtapose their own more "constitutional" aspirations against the tyrannical rule of their predecessors, this is certainly not the case with the current issue as Hadrian’s predecessor was Trajan, an emperor whose name had become a by-word for a just and fair ruler. The “restoration of liberty” advertised on the this type might commemorate Hadrian’s continuation of Trajan's Italian orphan-relief policies.