374, Lot: 532. Estimate $100. Sold for $525. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Commodus. AD 177-192. Æ Sestertius (30mm, 19.27 g, 12h). Rome mint. Struck AD 184. Laureate head right / Britannia standing left, holding sword downward and helmet on raised hand. RIC III 437; MIR 18, 648-6/30; Banti 20; BMCRE p. 796§; SCBC 647; cgb.fr MBS 38, lot 650 (same rev. die). Fair, partial green patina, rough. Extremely rare. Banti does not include a photo of an example of this extreme rarity. Only one example in CoinArchives.

This reverse commemorates the victories in Scotland of the governor Ulpius Marcellus in AD 184/5, which were in retribution for a major barbarian invasion several years earlier which resulted in major damage to Hadrian’s Wall, which had been temporarily overrun, and the defeat and death of an unknown governor.