Anyone want to share their sestercii?

I didn't start collecting sestertii until I had completed my 12 Caesars aurei and denarii collections. I certainly wish I had started earlier -- the size, weight, and artistry of this denomination are just inspiring.



I've also added some Hadrian sestertii in the last few years:

 

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Those look silver though. They look more like denarii than sestercii.

 

For those new to the concept: In addition to being the large bronze of the Roman Empire, the sestertius was the common unit of account. Caligula was said to have spent three billion sestertii but that does not mean there ever was that number of coins. At 4 to a denarius and 25 denarii to an aureus, 3,000,000,000 IIS would only be 3,000,000 aurei unless the conversion was done in the old system once used in the UK where a billion was a million million rather than a thousand million. How much did Caligula spend? A lot. Nero reduced the weight of the aureus from 1/40 to 1/45 Roman pound. Just to get a rough figure we might use 7.5g and a weight for one aureus. 3 million times 7.5 would be 22.5 million grams which at about $61 a gram would only be about $1.4 billion or about the cost of a non-championship sports team. In some circles, this is chump change. I ask the mathematically inclined to check my math and compare to what else we could buy if we were to win a billion or two in the lottery. I probably dropped a decimal somewhere but this only values those aurei at melt so it would be more if we were dealing in Caligula aurei in the high roller market. What do those sell for now? How big would a bag of 3 billion be?

For the benefit of our newer members, someone who owns both please take a photo of a Republican silver sestertius resting on a Caligula or other First century bronze. I don't own a silver one.

 

Keep in mind that the richest man in Rome at one point was Marcus Licinius Crassus who had a net worth of 200 million Sesterces or 50 million denarii.

Caligula spent 15x more than the total net worth of the richest man Ancient Rome ever had in just one year.

I also think it’s important to mention that the average wage was a denarius per day. Even when the denarius was at it’s heaviest it was only 4.5 grams. Today that’s about $3.

$3 per day for a worker compared to today where in America even a minimum wage worker makes $100+/day.

 

That's because they are silver. The sestertius was originally a small silver coin when it was introduced around 211 BC. It was reintroduced in a large brass form as a part of Augustus' coinage reforms.

 

Diva?

 

@Gam3rBlake, to say that the average wage was the equivalent of $3 per day in ancient Rome compared to a minimum wage in the USA of $100+ per day (not true everywhere anyway!) is meaningless without taking into account the cost of living and what someone could buy with his denarius per day -- a lot more than what $3 can buy in 2021, when you can't rent a small apartment in Manhattan for less than $1000+ per month. Somehow I doubt that a top floor apartment in an insula in the Subura in Rome -- with no plumbing -- cost that much in rent. "One dollar" has no absolute meaning; it's always relative and time-dependent and dependent on purchasing power.

 

Was it 1/4 as much silver as a denarius?

Because even the denarius is a tiny coin the size of a dime.

 

That’s true! Which is why Caligula spending 3 billion sesterces is a lot more than it would seem today.

That purchasing power went a lot further.

It would’ve paid the wages of 1 million Legionaries for over 2 years at the rate of 1 denarius per day which is what they demanded from Tiberius and he granted.

 

I'm not quite sure I understand the relevance of the observation that a denarius is close in size to a dime. But in terms of weight, most of the early sestertii I've seen weighed 1 gram or less, so I guess they could be described as being a quarter of the weight of a denarius.

 

@Gam3rBlake, do you have any sestertii of your own to show? The vast majority of my Roman Imperial coins (never mind my Roman Republican and Provincial coins) are denarii, antoniniani, and various denominations of billon or bronze coins from Diocletian onwards (plus a handful of siliquae and one solidus). Sestertii tend to be quite expensive when in nice condition, and I'm always concerned about the risk of smoothing and/or tooling that others have mentioned. Something that's much less of a concern with silver coins. Therefore, out of about 250 ancient Roman coins of all types, I have only four sestertii, along with about a dozen "middle bronzes" (asses and dupondii).

Marcus Aurelius, AE Sestertius, 173 AD, Rome Mint. Obv. Laureate head right, slight drapery on left shoulder; M ANTONINVS AVG TR P XXVII / Rev. Marcus Aurelius standing left, holding scepter with left hand, and, with his right hand, raising by her right hand a kneeling figure of Italia, wearing a turret and holding a globe with her left hand; [RESTITVTORI ITALIAE] IMP VI COS III [bracketed portion off flan]. RIC III 1078, Sear RCV II 4997, Cohen 538. 30mm, 25.8g. [According to David Sear (see RCV II at p. 315), this coin "commemorates the deliverance of Italy from the threat of barbarian invasion resulting from the emperor's successes in his wars against the Germanic tribes of the Danubian region."] [Purchased from Incitatus Coins, June 2020.]



Faustina II (wife of Marcus Aurelius & daughter of Antoninus Pius), AE Sestertius, ca. 161 AD, Rome Mint. Obv. Draped bust right, low chignon at back of head, FAVSTINA AVGVSTA / Rev. Felicitas (or Faustina as Fecunditas) standing left, between four girls (two standing at each side), holding two infants in her arms, each with a star over its head (representing the Dioscuri?), TEMPOR FELIC [-IC almost entirely worn off], S - C across fields. RIC III 1673 (at p. 147), var. [no stars above infants’ heads]; BMCRE MA 949 var [same]; Cohen 222; Dinsdale 006760 & n. 1 [Dinsdale, Paul H., The Imperial Coinage of the Middle Antonines: Marcus Aurelius with Lucius Verus and Commodus, Ch. 4, Faustina II - Undated, 158-176 (http://romanpaulus.x10host.com/Marcus/04 - Faustina II - Undated, 158-176 (med_res).pdf) at p. 70] (“Minor rev. variation: sometimes each infant held in arms has star above head”). 31 mm., 24 gm. Purchased from Victor’s Imperial Coins, March 2021. Ex. CNG E-Auction 476, 9/09/2020, part of Lot 762; ex. BLS Collection.*



*This variation of RIC III 1673 (with stars above the two infants’ heads) is unlisted in RIC or BMCRE, and appears to be mentioned only in the footnote to Dinsdale 006760. (RIC III 1677 does have stars above the infants’ heads, but is an as, not a sestertius.) Of the 14 other examples found on acsearch of RIC 1673 and 1674 (the same design as 1673 but with a diadem on Faustina’s head; see Sear RCV II 5284), only one other example (of RIC 1673) has the stars above the infants’ heads. See https://www.acsearch.info/image.html?id=6215913 (Numismatik Naumann, Auction 80, Lot 568, 4 Aug 2019).

The four girls standing on either side of Felicitas on the reverse of this type have been identified as Marcus Aurelius’s and Faustina II’s daughters Annia Faustina (a/k/a Faustina III), Lucilla, Fadilla, and Cornificia -- the last of whom was born in 160 AD. The two infants held in her arms have been identified as Faustina II’s twin sons b. 31 Aug 161 AD: Titus Aurelius Fulvus Antoninus (the older twin, d. 165 AD) and Commodus, the ninth and tenth children of the royal couple. See Foss, Roman Historical Coins.

Maximinus I Thrax, AE Sestertius, 236-238 AD, Rome Mint. Obv. Laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right, MAXIMINVS PIVS AVG GERM / Rev. Salus seated left, holding patera with outstretched right hand and using it to feed a serpent rising from an altar; resting left arm on side of chair, SALVS AVGVSTI; S C in exergue. RIC IV 85, BMCRE 175-176, Cohen 92, Sear RCV III 8338 (ill.). 31 mm., 17.58 g., 12 h.



Philip I AE Sestertius, 248 AD, Rome Mint. Obv. Laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust right, IMP M IVL PHILIPPVS AVG / Stag walking right, SAECVLARES AVGG; S C in exergue. RIC IV-3 160a (p. 89), Sear RCV III 9012. 27x29 mm., 16 g. (Games commemorating 1,000th anniversary of founding of Rome.)



Note the decrease in weight over time (from 25.8/24 g. to 17.58 to 16).

 

Because if the denarius is a silver coin the size of a dime and a sestercii used to be a silver coin and was worth 1/4 of a denarius then that means it would've been tiny and had to be 1/4 the size of a dime which seems to illogical and easy to lose.

 

No I don't have any yet

I wanted to look at some to motivate myself to start collecting them xD

 

If by size, you mean diameter, than you are incorrect. Denarii of the time were about 20mm, whereas sestertii were about 10-12mm. Also, I'm not sure if U.S. currency, or any modern currency for that matter, provides a meaningful basis of comparison. Ancient coins should be understood in their own context. The fact that a coin is very small relative to a US dime doesn't make it illogical.

 

It makes it logical comparing a dime to a denarius if someone is just curious about the size of the coin alone like I was.

 

I'll add to @IdesOfMarch01 's run of Hadrian sestertii with a recent purchase depicting the lighthouse at Alexandria, one of the wonders of the ancient world. My dealer located a 1955 pedigree prior to the sale which further upgraded my bid voracity:

 

Sestertius of Caligula 37-38 AD Obv Head left laureate. Rv Inscription within wreath. RIC 37 27.88 grams 34 mm Photo by W. Hansen Likely part of that spending spree. It should be noted that the coins minted during Caligula's first year are much more readily available than those minted later giving some credence to the account written by ancient historians. Perhaps more noteworthy for us numismatists he also began the program of placing his portrait on the sestertii from the mint of Rome. True portraits on sestertii do exist of Augustus and Tiberius ( as one can clearly see on the wonderful group presented by IdesOfMarch01. Fantastic group by the way) however these coins were minted at provincial mints in Gaul and in Asia.

 

That's a lifetime issue of Faustina I. Very nice!

 

I have just a few sestertii, starting with this Vespasian (69-79) featuring Roma on reverse:

And two from Trajan's Parthian campaign: Rex Parthis Datus (A King Given to Parthia) commemorating Trajan's installation of the pliant puppet-ruler Parthamaspates on the Parthian throne:

And a Regna Adsignata (Kingdoms Assigned) where Trajan assigns client-kingdoms to various local rulers:

 

You can not apply what seems 'right' to 21st century 'you'. If you are going to collect these things, you need to throw out your idea of money and see it as it appeared to the people 'then'. If you find the silver sestertii 'illogical' you are going to love the silver fractions in use by the Greeks 300 years earlier. This is a silver of Phocaea, Ionia from the late 6th century BC (give or take a few years). It weighs 0.1g and is not the smallest coin in my collection. (I show it here because I have the image on a US cent.) Logic is not always all that 'logical'. The Athenian Poet Aristophanes made fun of a man who was startled and swallowed his money. I doubt you have even considered going into a shop and spitting out payment into the hand of the clerk. Things have changed since I worked for $1 an hour. In the time since these coins were new?????