The Circus Maximus

421, Lot: 619. Estimate $500. Sold for $3000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Trajan. AD 98-117. Æ Sestertius (3533mm, 26.28 g, 6h). Rome mint. Struck circa AD 103-104. IMP CAES NERVAE TRAIANO AVG GER DAC P M TR P COS V P P, laureate bust right, slight drapery / S P Q R OPTIMO [PRINCIPI], S C in exergue, view of the Circus Maximus, showing a colonnaded front (the Duodecim Portae), with arched gateway surmounted by facing quadriga; on right, a similar arch with quadriga, and another arch surmounted by quadriga facing right, temple of Sol along back wall; within from left to right, meta, equestrian statue of Trajan, obelisk of Augustus, shrine of Cybele, and a second meta. RIC II 571 var. (bust type); Woytek 175b; Strack 391α; Banti 273; BMCRE 853 note; BN 223. VF, brown surfaces, two chisel cuts on obverse. Rare.

Ex Classical Numismatic Group Electronic Auction 267 (2 November 2011), lot 401 (hammer of $2200).

The Circus Maximus, perhaps the second greatest monument built for the benefit of Rome's citizens after the famed Flavian Amphitheatre (Colosseum), was restored by Trajan in 103. It is portrayed on this coin as seen from the Forum Boarium.