381, Lot: 425. Estimate $100. Sold for $190. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee. |
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Antoninus Pius. AD 138-161. Æ Sestertius (30mm, 26.34 g, 12h). Rome mint. Struck AD 149. Laureate head right / Crossed cornucopias from which a grape bunch flanked by two grain ears hang, surmounted by busts of boy. RIC III 857; Banti 410. VF, green patina.
The infants are thought to be T. Aelius Antoninus and T. Aurelius Antoninus, the twin sons of Marcus Aurelius and Faustina Junior born in AD 149. These were the first male offspring of the couple, offering hope for the establishment of the new dynasty, but both died in infancy.