CNG 94, Lot: 1167. Estimate $10000. Sold for $45000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Divus Trajan. Died AD 117. AV Aureus (19mm, 6.99 g, 6h). Rome mint. Struck under Hadrian, AD 117-118. DIVO TRAIANO PART H • AVG PATRI, laureate and draped bust right / Phoenix standing right on laurel branch. Cf. RIC II 26/28 corr. (obv. legend; for obv./rev. type); Strack 24ζ; Calicó 983 = Biaggi 551 = Count Alessandro Magnaguti Colleciton (Part 3, Santamaria, 26 July 1950), lot 95 (same dies); cf. BMCRE 47/49 (for obv. die/rev. type). Good VF, minor marks, small flan flaw on reverse. Extremely rare bust type without cuirass.

Strack cites two specimens with the obverse type without cuirass, in Paris and Brussels. The Brussels coin, however, is Du Chastel 519, which actually has a cuirassed portrait. At the same time, the Paris specimen is not published, so it is uncertain whether Strack’s reference to that piece is also incorrect. Thus, the present aureus is either the second or third known.