|
Caracalla. AD 198-217. Æ Sestertius (32mm, 29.06 g, 6h). Rome mint. Struck under Septimius Severus, AD 210. M AVREL ANTONI NVS PIVS AVG, laureate bust right, slight drapery / PONTIF TRP X III COS III, SC across field, Mars advancing left, holding olive branch in outstretched right hand and cradling trophy in left arm. RIC IV 450b; Banti 87; BMCRE 203; SCBC –. impressive hard brown patina, hairline flan crack, double strike on reverse. Near EF.
Ex Triton XXII (8 January 2019), lot 1127; Distinguished Collection of Roman Bronze Coins (Dix, Noonan, Webb 139, 15 February 2017), lot 147 (hammer £5000); A. Hess [230] (28 April 1936), lot 1553.
This sestertius celebrates the Severan campaign in Britain circa AD 208-211, the last Roman attempt to conquer Caledonia, now called Scotland, thereby controlling the entire island. Septimius Severus mounted the expedition in mid AD 208, hoping for a quick victory to crown his later years, and also to curb the ferocious sibling hatred of his sons, Caracalla and Geta, who accompanied him. Caracalla took the opportunity to play common soldier and ingratiate himself with the legions, while Geta took an administrative role in York. But what was supposed to be an easy conquest turned into a long, bitter slog, which took its toll on the emperor's health and intensified the brothers’ mutual hatred. Severus died at York on 4 February AD 211. Caracalla and Geta quickly abandoned Scotland, declared victory, and returned to Rome.
The final winners of all Triton XXVI lots will be determined at the live public sale that will be held on 10-11 January 2023.
Triton XXVI – Session Three – Lots 674-990 will be held Wednesday morning, 11 January 2023 beginning at 9:00 AM ET.
Winning bids are subject to a 22.5% buyer's fee for bids placed on this website and 25% for all others.
We recognize that our users may have various Internet Browsers and Operating Systems. We like our visitors to have the best possible experience when using our bidding platform. However, we do recognize that it is impossible to develop applications that work identically, efficiently and effectively on all web browsers. The CNG bidding platform supports the latest stable major version and stable previous version of Chrome and Firefox.
|
