124, Lot: 250. Estimate $200. Sold for $145. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

TITUS. 79-81 AD. Æ Sestertius (33mm, 24.82 g). Rome mint. Struck 79 AD. IMP TITVS CAES VESPASIAN AVG P M TR P COS V[II] outward, laureate head right / ANNONA AVGVST, SC in fields, Annona seated left. RIC II 87 note; F. Gnecchi, "Appunti di Numismatica Romana," RIN 1896, p. 163, 49 corr. (COS V); BMCRE p. 255, * and note; cf. BMCRE p. 253 and notes; Cohen -. Fine, green patina, some light smoothing in fields. Extremely rare; only the third specimen of this variety with the outward legend known, and the only one not in a public collection.

Gnecchi's reading of the specimen in his collection (now in the Museo Nazionale, Rome) was incorrect, owing to the poor preservation of the coin at that point of the obverse legend. A second example in Vienna preserves the legend more completely, confirming that the obverse legend reads COS VII, rather than a more illogical COS V in conjunction with the title AVG. Furthermore, most of the known COS VII specimens have the obverse inscription running inwardly. Apart from the Gnecchi specimen and that located in Vienna, this coin is only the third-known example of the variety with the obverse inscription running outwardly.