CNG 97, Lot: 653. Estimate $300. Sold for $525. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Trajan. AD 98-117. Æ Sestertius (33.5mm, 25.10 g, 6h). Rome mint. Struck AD 107-110. Laureate bust right, slight drapery / Single-span bridge across river; arched tower at either end; boat in river below. RIC II 569; Woytek 314bC3; Banti 263. Fine, dark gray and brown surfaces, some porosity, flan crack. Bold details on reverse.

The bridge on the reverse of this coin has been generally thought to be that constructed across the Danube by Trajan’s architect, Apollodorus of Damascus, in AD 104. There is good circumstantial evidence for this. The date range for this coin’s issue is closely contemporary with the date of the bridge’s construction and would fit in well programmatically with those war-related issues of the same time frame.