My First Sestertius

There's a lot to love on the Marcus Aurelius @Limes !

 

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I love sestertii. Here are some of my favorites in no order:

 

A few more:

 

And just a few more:

 

Here's my first sestertius of my new collection. I previously had a Marcus Aurelius, Antoninus Pius, Phillip I and Faustina. This one is Balbinus. Or as I like to call him, the Gerber baby!

 

For myself, I'll post the last sestertius which I bought 3 weeks ago. Though worn, it has 2 Emperors. One on each side. A.Pius and Marcus Aur. So cheap..

 

Decades ago a friend of mine buried a number of ancient coins in his back yard in order to re-patinate them. Years later, like Sam Pepys' misplaced gold, he couldn't remember where he buried them. it took him years, but he finally recovered them.

 

Thanks lordmarcovan and Jwt708 for the kind words! And Ken Dorney, your Galba and AP Italia coins are amazing. Beautiful...!

 

Your Hadrian is at the very upper end of normal variation. 99 % of all Sestertii struck in the first two centuries weigh between 18 and 30 grams (there was a tendency to using wider planchets in the first and thicker ones in the second century) with less than 10 % even reaching the nominal weight of one roman ounce, i.e. 27,3 gr (my heaviest Sestertius is a Nerva at 31,2 gr), while during the third century the weight rapidly decreased (my AD 262 Salonina is only 11,64 gr).

The mass melting of Sestertii seems to have begun no later than AD 260 when the inflation reached it´s final phase due to the climax of the militaery crisis. The metal of each Sestertius could be turned into ten silvered Antoniniani with a nominal value of eight Sestertii EACH.
In anticipation of this development Sestertii were appearently being hoarded since the mid 250´s. The largest such hoard, burried in Guelma, Algeria around AD 257, however includes Sestertii of all weights (the oldest from the time of Augustus) and therefore seems to indicate that at least up to that point light and heavy specimens were still in circulation side by side.

 

My first sestertius was also a Hadrian:


My latest addition, also a sestertius, but this time of Lucius Verus:


As a collector of the Nerva-Antonines I hope to eventually have a full set of sestertii, as well as one in silver and middle bronze.

 

Ah, but is a slabbed coin ever truly 'in hand'?

Great piece nonetheless.

 

I’m sure that Hadrian had a lot of security during his reign, not only a well built palace but also a loyal palace guard and so forth. The least I can offer him now is a sturdy plastic slab

The heft of the coin at almost 30 grams dwarfs the weight of the slab itself. This gives it somewhat of an “in hand” experience.

 

A lovely OP coin (though I'd like to see it out of its plastic). Less interesting reverses can sometimes go for a bargain. I was happy to get this Ceres for 85 bucks all-in last year:

 

I have always been impressed with Roman sestertii and try to buy them whenever I can. Two of Hadrian
1. Sestertius 119 A.D. Rv Annona RIC 564
2. Sestertius c.125 A.D. Rv. Diana RIC 631b