318, Lot: 719. Estimate $200. Sold for $900. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Elagabalus. AD 218-222. AR Denarius (21mm, 3.02 g, 6h). Rome mint. Struck AD 218. Laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust right / Roma seated left, holding Victory and scepter; shield below. RIC IV 8; Thirion 3; RSC 222a. Superb EF, toned. Very rare first issue of reign.

This coin is the sole dated type in the initial issue of Elagabalus's reign. The choice of Roma Victrix is significant, as Mattingly pointed out in BMCRE: Macrinus had neglected Rome and the Senate, choosing to stay in the field with the army. This reverse sought to affirm the importance and glory that the new regime was going to return to the imperial city. It was a shrewd statement likely attributable to his wise grandmother, Julia Maesa. Elagabalus’s family was part of the great Severan house, and he spent much of his tender years in the company of the emperors Septimius Severus and Caracalla. When the disaffected Syrian legions revolted against Macrinus, the troops proclaimed Elagabalus emperor. Promoted as the bastard son of Caracalla, upon acclamation they gave him that emperor's names, Marcus Aurelius Antoninus. Not only are these new names visible in his coin legends, the portrait of Elagabalus' first issue also assimilates the features of the youthful Caracalla. Thus, this first issue is an excellent display of the careful political engineering that was necessary to promote a new regime in the early 3rd century.