355, Lot: 595. Estimate $75. Sold for $260. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Victorinus. Romano-Gallic Emperor, AD 269-271. Antoninianus (19mm, 4.54 g, 12h). Colonia Agrippinensis (Cologne) mint. 2nd emission, late AD 269-mid 270. Radiate, draped, and cuirassed bust right / Salus standing right, feeding serpent held in arms. RIC V 67; Mairat 321-6; AGK 21c. EF, dark brown patina. Struck on a heavy flan.

Victorinus hailed from a wealthy Gallic family, serving in the army and eventually becoming praetorian tribune and consul of the Gallic Empire under Postumus. Assuming the purple after the murder of Postumus, Victorinus initially met with limited support. The province of Hispania broke away, returning to the fold of the central Roman Empire, while southern Gaul threatened to do the same. Victorinus managed to hold onto Gaul only to meet his death a few years later, at the hands of a jealous general whose wife he was rumored to have seduced.