Sale: CNG 67, Lot: 1621. Estimate $3000.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 22 September 2004.  Sold For $4000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

SEPTIMIUS SEVERUS. 193-211 AD. Æ Sestertius (29.59 gm). Struck 210 AD. Laureate head right / VICTORIAE BRITTANNICAE (sic), S C in exergue, two Victories standing facing one another, placing small round shield on a palm; two captives seated at base of palm. RIC IV 818; BMCRE 811; Cohen 732. Good VF, choice dark brown patina with patches of red. Exceptionally heavy flan. ($3000)

Ex Sternberg XXVIII (with Freeman & Sear, 30 October 1995), lot 174.

In 208 AD Septimius Severus together with the entire imperial family (his wife Julia Domna and their sons Caracalla and Geta) set out for Britain where the situation on the northern frontier demanded urgent attention. He was to spend the last two and a half years of his life in the island province and was destined never to return to Rome. Together with his elder son, the co-emperor Caracalla, he campaigned vigorously beyond the imperial frontier, penetrating far into Scotland. The line of their marching-camps can still be detected today by aerial photography. Severus also restored Hadrian's Wall, the northern frontier of the province, which was in serious need of renovation now that more than eighty years had elapsed since its original construction. Little is known of the success of these military operations, though they were to bring peace to the area for the remainder of the third century and an extensive issue of coinage in all metals was produced to commemorate the British victory.