Plotina. Augusta, AD 105-122. Æ Sestertius (32mm, 23.08 g, 6h). Rome mint. Struck under Trajan, AD 112-August 117.

Electronic Auction 460
Lot: 525. Estimated: $ 5 000

The Summer Haven Collection of Sestertii, Bronze

Sold For $ 4 750. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Go to Live

Plotina. Augusta, AD 105-122. Æ Sestertius (32mm, 23.08 g, 6h). Rome mint. Struck under Trajan, AD 112-August 117. PLOTINA AVG IMP TRAIANI, draped bust right, hair elaborately dressed in two tiers over brow, above which is a stephane, and elaborately waved at the back, falling down her neck in looped plait / FIDES AVGVST, S C across field, Fides standing right, holding grain ears in right hand, basket of fruit in left. RIC II 740 (Trajan); Woytek 711; Strack 441; Banti 1. Green patina with areas of red, old scratches in obverse fields. Near VF. Well struck on broad flan, and possesing a distinguished pedigree.

From the Summer Haven Collection. Ex Gemini VI (10 January 2010), lot 817 (hammer $11,000); Boston Museum of Fine Arts inventory #1998.47 (a gift of Mr. & Mrs. Cornelius Vermeule III, 1998), purchased by Mr. Vermeule from A.H. Baldwin & Sons, 1964; V.J.E. Ryan Collection (Part V, Glendining’s, 2 April 1952), lot 2454 (cited as “Ex Sambon Collection”).

Trajan's wife Pompeia Plotina Claudia Phoebe Piso was part of a coterie of powerful Spanish-born women who exerted considerable influence over imperial policy and the succession in the early second century AD. Born in Gades in AD 64, she was made Augusta by Trajan in AD 100, but did not formally accept the title until AD 105. Famously unpretentious, she is said to have stated, upon entering the imperial palace for the first time, "I enter here such a woman as I would wish to be when I leave." Coinage with her portrait commenced with this sestertius issue in AD 112. With no children of her own, Plotina highly favored Hadrian, the emperor's ward, and probably engineered his betrothal and marriage to Trajan’s niece Sabina, thus tying him to the imperial family. Some Roman historians accuse Plotina of concealing Trajan's death in order to stage-manage the appointment of Hadrian as Caesar, thus ensuring a smooth transition of power. She lived long into Hadrian's reign and continued to be honored by him as Augusta. A letter survives from Plotina to Hadrian seeking his endowment of an Epicurean school in Greece. Upon her death in AD 121 or 122, she was deified by order of the Senate. 

Closing Date and Time: 29 January 2020 at 12:54:40 ET.

All winning bids are subject to an 18% buyer’s fee.