Rare DISCIPLINA AVG Type

298, Lot: 196. Estimate $100. Sold for $320. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Hadrian. AD 117-138. Æ Sestertius (33mm, 25.99 g, 6h). Rome mint. Struck AD 134-138. Laureate and draped bust right / Hadrian advancing right, followed by an officer and four soldiers carrying signa; DISCIPLINA/ AVG in exergue. RIC II 746; Banti 242. Fair, rough brown surfaces. Rare.

Ex Robert O. Ebert Collection; Harvey J. Hoffer Collection (Harmer Rooke, 12 December 1986), lot 841 (part of).

The discussion of this type in RIC (p. 327) notes it "celebrates the military reforms of the emperor", without defining what specific event triggered the commemoration on this sestertius. It is most likely related to the conclusion of the last great military campaign of Hadrian's reign, the Bar Kochba revolt in Judaea (AD 132-135). As an internal revolt, not an operation against foreign foes, the war did not warrant a coinage explicitly commemorating its end, but this type could indirectly mark its conclusion, praising the legions for their steadfastness while stressing the re-ordering of the armies for peacetime and the standing down from a war footing.