438, Lot: 557. Estimate $100. Sold for $340. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Philip I. AD 244-249. AR Antoninianus (23mm, 3.89 g, 6h). Ludi Saeculares (Secular Games) issue, commemorating the 1000th anniversary of Rome. Rome mint, 1st officina. 10th emission, AD 249. IMP PHILIPPVS AVG, radiate, draped, and cuirassed bust right / AETERNITAS AVGG, elephant left, guided by mahout holding goad and wand. RIC IV 58; RSC 17. EF, lightly toned.

Continuing the tradition of Claudius and Antoninus Pius before him, the celebration of the Secular Games at the end of every century since the founding of Rome culminated during the reign of Philip I, as the city celebrated her 1,000th anniversary in AD 248. The legends on these issues frequently read Saeculares Augg, and feature a similar iconography from previous games, such as the she-wolf suckling the twins, the various wild beasts paraded through the amphitheater, and a cippus inscribed for the preservation of the memory of these events.