Unpublished Pius Medallion

CNG 108, Lot: 621. Estimate $5000. Sold for $5500. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Antoninus Pius. AD 138-161. Æ Medallion (40mm, 45.06 g, 12h). Rome mint. Struck AD 139. IMP • T • AEL • CAES • HADR • ANTONINVS • AVG • PIVS, laureate head left / P • M • TR P COS • II, Roma enthroned left, holding Palladium and scepter, with shield at side. Unpublished in the standard references. VF, red-brown patina, some light encrustation, old collection number (“348”) on reverse. A seemingly unique and impressive medallion from early in Pius’ reign.

Struck from the same obverse die as other medallic types dated to AD 139 (see Gnecchi pl. 46, 9-10; Banti 302, 307).

The central portion of the shield decoration on the reverse is unclear. The upper area depicts two figures, with that on the right seemingly dismounting from a ship, and thus we might interpret this as Aeneas and Ascanius arriving at Latium. At the bottom we find a cave containing an animal, possibly a she-wolf but, if the identification of the two figures as Aeneas and Ascanius is correct, more likely the sow that will direct Aeneas where to found his city. To the right, at about the shield’s mid-height, appears to be a river-god, whom we are able to more confidently identify as the Tiber.