340, Lot: 387. Estimate $200. Sold for $190. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Philip I. AD 244-249. Æ Sestertius (28mm, 15.54 g, 12h). Commemorating the 1000th anniversary of Rome. Rome mint, 1st officina. 10th emission, AD 249. Laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust right / Elephant advancing left, led by mahout, holding staff and goad. RIC IV 167a; Banti 7. VF, dark greenish-brown patina with touches of red and some deposits, slight double striking on obverse.

Ex Classical Numismatic Group Electronic Auction 298 (13 March 2013), lot 328; Robert O. Ebert Collection.

Continuing the tradition of Claudius and Antoninus Pius before him, the celebration of the Saecular Games at the end of every century since the founding of Rome culminated during the reign of Philip I, as the city celebrated her 1000th anniversary in AD 248. Types include the she-wolf suckling the twins Remus and Romulus, the various wild beasts paraded through the amphitheater, and a cippus inscribed for the preservation of the memory of these events.