Sale: Triton IX, Lot: 1525. Estimate $10000.  Closing Date: Monday, 9 January 2006.  Sold For $14000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

PLAUTILLA. Augusta, 202-205 AD. Æ Sestertius (25.02 g, 12h). Struck 202-203 AD. PLAVTILLA AVGVSTA, draped bust right / VENVS VICTRIX, S C in exergue, Venus standing left, holding apple in extended right hand, cradling palm in left arm, leaning on shield; to left, Cupid standing left, holding uncertain object. RIC IV 579 (Caracalla); Banti 3; BMCRE p. 323, ‡; Cohen 27. VF, dark brown patina, pierced in antiquity. Extremely rare, one of approximately 12 known, the first we have offered for sale. ($10,000)

Plautilla was the daughter of the Praetorian Prefect Plautianus, who was Septimius Severus' 'right hand'. Septimius proposed the marriage of Caracalla and Plautilla, over the protests of his eldest son who hated the cruel Plautianus. The two were weded in 202 AD, but their 'political' marriage began to fail shortly thereafter. To Caracalla's joy, in 204/5 AD Plautianus was convicted of conspiring against Septimius. Rather than exÉcuting them, Septimius had Plautilla and her father banished to the island of Lipari. In 212 AD, however, once Caracalla had sÉcured his rule by murdering Geta, a number of proscriptions were carried out, including the exÉcution of Plautianus and Plautilla.