Gordian III. As Caesar, AD 238. Æ Sestertius (30mm, 20.57 g, 12h). Rome mint. 1st emission of Balbinus and Pupienus. Good VF.

CNG Feature Auction 133
Lot: 587. Estimated: $ 500

Roman Imperial, Bronze, Coin-in-Hand Video

Sold For $ 650. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Go to Live

Gordian III. As Caesar, AD 238. Æ Sestertius (30mm, 20.57 g, 12h). Rome mint. 1st emission of Balbinus and Pupienus. Bareheaded and draped bust right / Emblems of the pontificate: lituus, secespita, patera, guttus, simpulum, and aspergillum. RIC IV 3; BMCRE 64-6 (Balbinus and Pupienus); Banti 59. Dark green-brown surfaces. Good VF.

Gordian III’s six year reign was period of relative tranquility in the turbulent mid-third century AD. He was the grandson of Gordian I Africanus, patriarch of an immensely wealthy and influential family, who in AD 238 was proclaimed emperor in revolt against the cruel Maximinus I Thrax. The regime collapsed almost immediately, and, through an improbable series of events, the 13-year-old Gordian III was eventually saluted as emperor, the only one of AD 238’s six Roman rulers to survive the year. Due to his youth, he was at first dominated by his mother and a board of senators, who had to walk a tightrope to avoid the fate of previous short-lived regimes. In AD 241, Gordian appointed as Praetorian Prefect the capable Timesitheus, whose daughter Tranquillina became his bride. Timesitheus became a beneficent mentor who kept Gordian’s weak government on an even keel. But in the same year, the Sasanian Persians under Shapur I crossed Rome’s desert frontier and threatened Antioch, forcing young Gordian to take up arms. His army engaged Shapur at Rhesaena in Syria and won a signal victory early in AD 243. But the death of Timesitheus that winter brought Roman progress to a grinding halt. Supplies dwindled, and the new prefect, Philip, blamed the shortage on Gordian’s incompetence. The soldiers grew rebellious. Gordian reportedly offered to abdicate in Philip’s favor, but Philip instead simply seized the throne and had Gordian quietly murdered early in AD 244. Gordian’s youth and gentle nature had proven unsuited to the demands of hard times.

The final winners of all CNG Feature Auction 133 lots will be determined at the live online sale that will be held on 15-16 September 2026.

CNG Feature Auction 133 – Session Two – Lot 309-594 will be held Tuesday morning, 15 September 2026 beginning at 2:00 PM 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.