Trajan Decius. AD 249-251. Æ Double Sestertius (32.5mm, 35.86 g, 12h). Rome mint, 4th officina. 3rd emission, early-mid AD 250. Near EF.

CNG Feature Auction 132
Lot: 830. Estimated: $ 3 000

Roman Imperial, Bronze, Coin-in-Hand Video

Sold For $ 3 750. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

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Trajan Decius. AD 249-251. Æ Double Sestertius (32.5mm, 35.86 g, 12h). Rome mint, 4th officina. 3rd emission, early-mid AD 250. Radiate, draped, and cuirassed bust right, seen from behind / Felicitas standing facing, head left, holding long caduceus and cornucopia. RIC IV 115c; Banti 10. Dark green patina, a couple of tiny flan cracks, some minor smoothing. Near EF.

From the Gasvoda Collection. Ex Triton XXVII (9 January 2024), lot 841; Goldberg 128 (28 June 2022), lot 1061; James Fox Collection (Classical Numismatic Group 40, 4 December 1996), lot 1647; Giessener Münzhandlung 44 (3 April 1989), lot 950.

Born in an obscure provincial city on the Danubian frontier, Gaius Messius Quintus Decius gained entrance to the Roman elite via his marriage to Herennia Etruscilla, descended from a noble Etruscan family. Decius rapidly rose to a series of important positions, where he earned a reputation as an old-fashioned disciplinarian who revered Roman institutions. In AD 248-249, when the Emperor Philip I faced a series of revolts, Decius convinced him not to abdicate. Philip instead placed Decius at the head of an army sent to the Danubian front to deal with usurpers and Gothic invaders. With these tasks accomplished by June of AD 249, Decius’s soldiers proclaimed him emperor, against his wishes (or so he claimed). His army defeated Philip in battle near Verona in September. They entered Rome the following month. The Senate enthusiastically approved his elevation and gave him the additional name of Trajan in honor of the great second-century emperor. He appointed his sons Herennius Etruscus and Hostilian as Caesars and named his wife Augusta. Decius seems to have come to the throne with a ready-made agenda for the restoration of Rome’s fading glory. Christianity was particularly singled out, and thousands of Christians were forced to either make sacrifice to Rome’s gods or face execution. Renewed barbarian invasions late in AD 250 took his attention away from domestic affairs. Seeking a decisive battle, Decius pursued the Goths into the marshes of Abrittus and straight into an ambush. Decius, Herennius and about half of their army perished in the debacle, the first time a Roman emperor had fallen to a foreign enemy. The Christians claimed it was God’s revenge on an arch-persecutor.

The final winners of all CNG Feature Auction 132 lots will be determined at the live online sale that will be held on 18-19 May 2026.

CNG Feature Auction 132 – Session Three – Lot 588-888 will be held Tuesday morning, 19 May 2026 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.

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