“You’ll find a huge sow lying on the shore”

356, Lot: 511. Estimate $500. Sold for $850. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Antoninus Pius. AD 138-161. Æ Sestertius (32mm, 27.67 g, 12h). Rome mint. Struck AD 140-144. Laureate head right / Sow kneeling right under holm oak, suckling seven piglets; an eighth standing beneath her head. RIC III 629; Banti 385. Good Fine, dark brown patina with patches of green, some roughness.

From The Aeneid, Book VIII: “And now, lest you think this sleep’s idle fancy, you’ll find a huge sow lying on the shore, under the oak trees, that has farrowed a litter of thirty young, a white sow, lying on the ground, with white piglets round her teats, That place shall be your city, there’s true rest from your labours. By this in a space of thirty years Ascanius will found the city of Alba, bright name.” Hence, this type signifies part of the foundation myth for Rome.