339, Lot: 364. Estimate $100. Sold for $320. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Antoninus Pius. AD 138-161. Æ As (25mm, 9.80 g, 5h). Rome mint. Struck AD 143-144. Laureate head right / Victory advancing left, holding in right hand a round shield inscribed BRI/TAN in two lines. RIC III 732. Fine, dark brown patina, light roughness.

One of Pius' first actions as emperor was to send Q. Lollius Urbicus, a previous governor of Germania Inferior, to Britain to quell a number of revolts. While most of the sources note the Brigantes (located in Northumbria) as the primary focus of these events, circa AD 143-144, most of his campaigning was against the lowland tribes of Scotland, the Votadini, Selgovae, Damnonii, and Novantae. His campaigns were successfully completed by 144, after which Urbicus and the Legio II Augusta built the Antonine Wall.