Sale: CNG 67, Lot: 1522. Estimate $1000.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 22 September 2004.  Sold For $900. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

ANTONINUS PIUS. 138-161 AD. Æ Sestertius (27.10 gm). Struck 141 AD. Laureate head right / ROMAE AETERNAE, pellet within decastyle temple set on three-tiered base; pediment decorated with statues; statues of Aeternitas as acroteria. RIC III 622; BMCRE 1281; Cohen 699. Good VF, olive patina, slight roughness. ($1000)

From the Michael Weller Collection. Ex Triton IV (5 December 2000), lot 561; Numismatica Ars Classica 10 (9 April 1997), lot 634; Numismatica Ars Classica 5 (25 February 1992), lot 482.

The great temple of Venus and Rome, actually two temples that were back to back, the temple of Venus faced the Flavian ampitheatre and that of Rome overlooked the Forum, was designed by Hadrian himself. Construction began in 121 AD and and remained unfinished on Hadrian's death in 138 AD. Construction was finally completed in 141 AD under Antoninus Pius, the event celebrated by this coin. The temple would be destroyed by fire in 307 and later rebuilt by Maxentius, the remains of which can still be seen in Rome today.