EXTRAORDINARY & UNIQUE STORY of a single ROMAN SESTERTII – There is no equal

i didn't catch from you original post that this was actually your coin...wow. what a beauty. yes, please post the reverse!

 

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I appolagise for missing the request for the reverse of the PLOTINA
Diam. 34mm Weight. 26.81gm

 

I feel she's offering this nice basket to us. It's never too late SWK. Reverse is as gorgeous as obverse. Good luck and many thanks..
Charles

 

I cannot believe the details in that basket of fruit, impressive!

 

One of the most amazing bronzes I have ever seen.

What happened to the rest of the hoard?

John

 

Utterly fantastic bronze!!! Since i caught this thread late and fully realize you own that wonderful 'Sestertius', I'm filled with envy...and admiration!! Congrats @SwK !!!

 

Sweet coin, SwK

 

wow

 

provenance:

it comes from a hoard that was found in the late 1890’s in Bolsena, Italy and has remained untouched, as it was found, until today. It is well struck and well centered on a broad flan so that the naturally aristocratic features of the Empress appear in a most noble manner. Quite clearly, after its discovery it was only brushed to remove any dust, soil and dirt adhering from years under the ground in a volcanic area. It was described and illustrated in the auction catalogue of 1906 (there it was termed Magnifique and FDC); it then sold for an immense price (1400 Lit) 349 and then a year later sold in Martinetti Collection (Sangiorgi Galleries, Sambon/Canessa, 18 November 1907), lot 1933 PLOTINA ex.Sarti ending up in a collection (pharmacist?), which may have begun before World War I, but certainly finished in the early 1960s; after being in a bank vault for over a generation the collection was recently sold at auction.

The whole hoard was legally acquired by Prof. Prospero Sarti soon after it was found; he had intended to catalogue, describe and clean the coins during his proposed retirement, but his sudden death in 1904 meant that none of that work was done. This was an enormous loss because this hoard was clearly one of the most interesting and important hoards of 1st and 2nd century AD aes ever found (the fact that so many of the coins that were in it were little worn may even mean that the coins were selected from circulation specifically because of their condition). Until recently this hoard had been forgotten, but it is fair to suggest that one result of the Sarti sale was to provide collectors and museums with a remarkable number of Roman bronze coins, which, when cleaned, entered collections and museums in Europe and elsewhere (it is known that c. 4000 coins were in the Bolsena find and only a mere fraction of those were sold individually at the Sarti sale; even fewer were illustrated in 1906 with the vast majority being sold uncleaned in multiple lots). Alas, virtually all of this provenance information seems to have been lost.

Geoffrey C

 

This is a stunning coin Geoffrey, made all the more desirable for having such an intriguing history. With a portrait of such refined style, I might even rank this above your Hadrian for its artistic merit!