Dated From the Foundation of Rome

298, Lot: 165. Estimate $200. Sold for $525. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Hadrian. AD 117-138. Æ Sestertius (34mm, 23.77 g, 6h). Rome mint. Dated AVC 874 (AD 121). Laureate and draped bust right / ANN DCCCLXXIII NAT VRB P CIR CON (partially obscured), Genius of the Circus reclining left, holding wheel balanced on knee in right hand, placing left arm around three metae. RIC II 609 (R4); Banti 99. Near Fine, rough tan-brown surfaces. Extremely rare.

Ex Robert O. Ebert Collection; Harvey J. Hoffer Collection (Harmer Rooke, 12 December 1986), lot 819.

Ths remarkable type and its related aureus are the only Roman coins dated from the foundation of Rome, or ab urbe condita. The reverse legend can be expanded to anno DCCCLXXIII natali urbis populo(?) cirsenses constituit (publica, plebii, and primum have also been suggested for the “P”), informing us that the emperor had given to the people(?) the Circensian Games on the 874th anniversary of the foundation of Rome. The reverse alludes to the games, showing the Genius of the Circus holding a chariot wheel and placing his arm around three metae, or turning posts at the end of the spina.

This seldom offered type is difficult to find in any condition, and the sole specimen Banti knew of with this rare bust type (in the Gnecchi collection) is of a comparable grade.