Persian Triumph Issue

450, Lot: 368. Estimate $3000. Sold for $3250. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Severus Alexander. AD 222-235. AV Aureus (20.5mm, 6.64 g, 6h). Persian ‘Triumph’ issue. Rome mint. Special emission, AD 233. IMP ALEXAN DER PIVS AVG, laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust right / LIBERA LI TAS AVG V, Liberalitas, draped, standing left, holding up abacus in right hand and cornucopia in left; fold of drapery over left arm. RIC IV 242; Calicó 3070; BMCRE 945 (same rev. die); Biaggi 1312; Jameson 218; Mazzini 141 (same rev. die). Slight wave in flan, some roughness and scuffs. Good VF.

R. A. G. Carson in the Introduction to Coins of the Roman Empire in the British Museum Volume VI writes that “Although the Persian war was concluded by terms not wholly consistent with success, Alexander on his return to Rome in 233 celebrated a triumph which was the occasion for the dispensation of his fifth liberalitas” (p. 82).