338, Lot: 280. Estimate $100. Sold for $85. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Postumus. Romano-Gallic Emperor, AD 260-269. Æ Double Sestertius (32mm, 18.92 g, 6h). Treveri (Trier) mint. 3rd bronze emission, AD 261. Radiate, draped, and cuirassed bust right / Hercules standing facing, head right, holding club set on ground and bow, lion’s skin draped over left arm. RIC V 131; Mairat 201; Bastien, Postume 104. Fine, rough brown surfaces.

By AD 260, Rome had divided her military forces between the eastern deserts, where Valerian campaigned against the Sasanians, and the forests of Germania, where Gallienus was engaged with Alemanni, Franks, and Jugunthi. While the war in the east went poorly for the Empire, the army met with success in the north as Postumus and his troops crushed a Jugunthian army returning from raiding Italy. The troops were ordered to deliver the spoils to the emperor, but refused, raising Postumus to the purple. Rather than claiming the entirety of Roman dominion as his own, the usurper instead consolidated his territory and focused his efforts on controlling Germania, Gaul, Britain, and Hispania. This tactic proved successful. Postumus reigned in Gaul for eight years, duplicating Roman governmental structures such as the senate and the office of consul and securing his borders from both barbarians and Rome until 269, when he was assassinated at Mogontiacum (Mainz) amidst internal unrest.