Sale: CNG 72, Lot: 1535. Estimate $750.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 14 June 2006.  Sold For $850. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Antoninus Pius. AD 138-161. Æ Sestertius (29.90 g, 1h). Struck AD 149. Laureate head right / Crossed cornucopiae from which a grape bunch flanked by two grain ears hang, surmounted by busts of two boys, vis-à-vis. RIC III 857; Banti 410. Good VF, dark green patina.

From the Garth R. Drewry Collection. Ex Berk BBS 45 (26 October 1986), lot 450; Naville II (12-14 June 1922), lot 834.

The infants are thought to represent T. Aelius Antoninus and T. Aurelius Antoninus, the twin sons of Marcus Aurelius and Faustina Junior born in 149 AD. These were the first male offspring of the couple, offering hope for the establishment of the new dynasty, but both died in infancy.