349, Lot: 398. Estimate $150. Sold for $90. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Trajan. AD 98-117. Æ Sestertius (35mm, 27.51 g, 6h). Rome mint. Struck circa AD 103-105. Laureate bust right, slight drapery on shoulder / Trajan on horseback right, thrusting spear at Dacian soldier falling under horse. RIC II 534; Woytek 203b; Banti 207. Near VF, brown patina, numerous deep cuts on obverse.

While such deep cuts, like those on the obverse of this sestertius, often were the result of damnatio memoriae, it is hard to imagine such a procedure being used on Trajan. Known as one of “The Five Good Emperors”, he maintained cordial relations with the Senate, was admired by the general public, and his reign suffered no attempted usurpations. Trajan did, however, have an aggressive expansionist policy, highlighted by the conquest of Dacia and its absorption into the Roman Empire. It is possible, then that these marks may have been made by someone, perhaps a former Dacian prisoner or other victim of the war, to express their dissatisfaction at the subjugation of their homeland.