Affordable Circus Maximus Sestertius

300, Lot: 209. Estimate $100. Sold for $320. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Trajan. AD 98-117. Æ Sestertius (33mm, 22.73 g, 6h). Rome mint. Struck circa AD 103. Laureate head right, slight drapery on left shoulder / The Circus Maximus, showing outer colonnade and partial view of interior. RIC II 571 var. (bust type); Banti 273; Woytek 175b. Fine, brown patina with deep corrosion spots.

The Circus Maximus, perhaps the second greatest monument built for the benefit of Rome's citizens after the famed Flavian Amphitheatre (Colosseum), was restored by Trajan in 103. It is portrayed on this coin as seen from the Forum Boarium.