Sale: Nomos 7, Lot: 160. Estimate CHF5500.  Closing Date: Tuesday, 14 May 2013.  Sold For CHF4400. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Claudius. AD 41-54. Sestertius (Orichalcum, 32mm, 24.50 g 7), 41-42. TI CLAVDIVS CAESAR AVG P M TR P IMP Laureate head of Claudius to right. Rev. SPES AVGVSTA / S C Spes advancing to left, lifting up the hem of her robes with her left hand and holding a flower in her right. BMC 124. Cohen 85. RIC 99. An attractive piece with a lovely green patina, overlaid by some deposits on the reverse. Very minor pit on the obverse, otherwise, good very fine.

Ex Numismatica Ars Classica 15, 18 May 1999, 295.

The Sestertius was a quarter denarius and was a major part of the Roman coinage system in Imperial times. The issues of Claudius with the reverse of Spes, a goddess of particular interest to the emperor, were quite large, and usually bear a fine portrait, of pure Julio-Claudian style as we see here. They were, in fact, so popular with the troops on the frontier that many local imitations were produced as well, many looking decidely bizarre.