442, Lot: 47. Estimate $500. Sold for $950. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Valerian I. AD 253-260. Ӕ Sestertius (29.5mm, 17.02 g, 12h). Rome mint. 1st issue, AD 253-254. IMP C P LIC VALERIANVS AVG, laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right / VESTA, Vesta standing left, holding patera and transverse sceptre; S C across field. MIR 36, 54g (same rev. die as illustration); RIC V 175; Banti 23 (same rev. die [line drawing of BN specimen]). Near VF, green patina with brown highlights, light cleaning scratches. Extremely rare, only one example noted by MIR (in the BN [Paris]).

Ex ArtCoins Roma 9 (29 April 2014), lot 766.

MIR (p. 79) suggests that this single reverse die, used for both Valerian and Gallienus, may have been prepared for striking sestertii for Cornelia Supera, wife of Aemilianus, but never used for this purpose. Reverses depicting Vesta are certainly found more frequently on coins issued for empresses than for emperors.