Triton XVIII, Lot: 1078. Estimate $2000. Sold for $2250. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Diva Marciana. Died AD 112/4. Æ Sestertius (35.5mm, 27.60 g, 6h). Rome mint. Struck under Trajan, September AD 112-117. DIVA AVGVSTA MARCIANA, draped bust right, hair elaborately dressed over brow, above which is a stephane, braided and bound up at the back / EX SENATVS CONSVLTO, S C in exergue, Diva Marciana, holding grain ears in right hand, scepter in left, seated left on cart drawn by two elephants; each elephant has its own mahout. RIC II 750 var. (Trajan; patera not grain ears); Woytek 725; Strack 447 (Trajan); Banti 6; BMCRE 1086-7 (Trajan); BN 793. Good Fine, dark gray and brown patina, some green, areas of minor porosity and roughness, a few light marks. Very rare.

From the RAM Collection. Ex John F. Sullivan Collection (Triton IX, 10 January 2006), lot 1451; Numismatica Ars Classica I (19 May 1999), lot 1902.

There is very little in the historical record of Ulpia Marciana, Trajan's sister. Unlike many other imperial relatives during the Empire, she is reputed to have been of very high character. During Trajan's reign, Marciana lived as a widow, and did not take another husband. She was a close friend of Trajan's wife, Plotina, and both jointly accepted the title of Augusta in AD 105 (which they had both rejected in AD 98). The date of her death is debatable, and although some scholars believe she died in the year she was hailed Augusta, her death is commonly placed in AD 112 or 114.