116, Lot: 209. Estimate $250. Sold for $490. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

GAIUS (CALIGULA). 37-41 AD. Æ Sestertius (35mm, 24.60 g). Struck 37-38 AD. Laureate head left / Gaius standing left on daïs with camp chair behind, addressing five soldiers standing right, holding parazonia and shields; four legionary aquilae behind. RIC I 32; BMCRE 33; Cohen 1. Fine, brown patina, some minor smoothing and light roughness.

From the Tony Hardy Collection.

Highly unusual on this coin is the lack of the letters S C, which designate that the coin was issued by decree of the Senate (Senatus Consulto). From Republican times, the formula had been used on both silver and bronze coinage, but under the Empire, it was used almost exclusively on the bronze coinage. In fact, imperial bronze coinage without the formula is generally thought to have been issued under special circumstances and under an authority other than the Senate. The ADLOCVT(io) COH(ortium) sestertii are thought to have been a special distribution issue for the Praetorian Guard personally funded out of the emperor's own purse.