400, Lot: 646. Estimate $150. Sold for $230. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Antoninus Pius. AD 138-161. Æ As (26mm, 9.53 g, 12h). Rome mint. Struck AD 143-144. Laureate bust right, slight drapery / Two ancilia–oval shields with rounded projections above and below. RIC III 736a var. (bust type). VF, dark green patina.

From the collection of a Texas Wine Doctor, purchased from Antioch Associates, 25 October 2004.

The ancilia were the sacred shields of Mars and were associated with the Salii, a college of priests whose ceremonies signaled the beginning and ending of a military campaign season. Founded by Rome's second king, Numa Pompilius, the Salii were so-called because one aspect of their ritual involved leaping (salire). Beginning in March they would process throughout the city with the ancilia. At the end of the month, these shields would be ritually cleaned and stored away. In October, the same ritual was performed to mark the end the season.