A Sestertius of Vespasian

My recent purchase from the DNW auction has arrived.
Very happy with it!

It is a sestertius of Vespasian bearing the legend SPQR P P OB CIVES SERVATOS within Oak Wreath (Corona Civica).

The full inscription "Senatus Populus Que Romanus Pater Patriae Ob Cives Servatos" translates as ''The Senate and the people of Rome, Father of the Country, For saving citizens''. This was an award conferred by the senate upon the recipient for having saved the lives or restored the freedom of roman citizens.

This motif, or variants of it, is found on sestertii of Augustus, Gaius, Claudius, Galba, Vespasian and Hadrian. It is also found on other denominations in gold and silver.

Vespasian, Sestertius, Lugdunum, 71,
Obverse: laureate bust right, globe at point, imp caes vespasian avg p m tr p p p cos iii,
Reverse: spqr p p ob cives servatos in four lines within oak-wreath, 23.93g (RIC 1137; BMC p.198; C 531).

About very fine, chocolate-brown patina, rare;
Provenance: Seaby List M228, July 1934 (17379)

Here are the pictures from the DNW auction as well as my own.


Post you Corona Civica!

 

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A great coin!

 

Very nice.

 

Thank you, Randy and Alde.
Lovely chocolate brown and green!

 

Great coin. Do you feel like either set of pictures captures the color correctly? Neither one really shows up as what I'd call 'chocolate brown' on my monitor.

I am also surprised that OB CIVES SERVATOS doesn't show up on the coins of later emperors.

 

Thank you Paul.
I believe my pictures capture the true color better, except that that they do not show as much brown as there truly is.
Still, green predominates on the obverse, much less so on the reverse. I think this has to do with my lighting conditions.

 

Eduard => congrats on the great OP-coin (rugged eye-appeal)

 

Those surfaces...

 

Great coin

 

I love coins like this. Not only nice looking, but tell a bit of history in the legend.

AUGUSTUS
AR Denarius
OBVERSE: CAESAR AVGVSTVS - Bare head right
REVERSE: OB/CIVIS/ SERVATOS - Legend in three lines within oak-wreath, ties inward
Colonia Patricia mint 19 BC
3.3g, 17mm
RIC 77A, C208

The Emperor caused the Roman citizens made prisoners in Parthia to be restored to liberty in the year of Rome 734.

 

fine addition to any collection that one~

 

Terrific posts!!!

I have a Galba variety of the reverse.

 

Very nice coin @Eduard! Good write-up too- I always like it when someone explains the history behind the coin rather than just show a pretty picture.

 

Fantastic!!!

 

The portrait is almost silhouette-like and very distinctive. Unmistakably Vespasian.

Luckily, previous owners resisted the temptation to tool additional detail into it, which would have greatly reduced its attractiveness.

I've always had a liking for this type of reverse. On sestertii, the full "OB CIVES SERVATOS" can be inscribed, unlike denarii and aurei with this reverse:



CLAUDIUS 10 B.C. - 54 A.D.
AR Denarius (3.63 gm.) Rome 50 - 51 A.D. RIC 54
TI CLAVD CAESAR AVG P M TR P X IMP P P Laureate head of Claudius r. / SPQR OB CS in oak wreath.



GAIUS (CALIGULA)
AV Aureus (7.66 g.) Lugdunum ca. 37 - 38 A.D. RIC --, cf. 19
C CAESAR AVG GERM P M TR POT Laureate head r. Rev. S P Q R / P P / OB C S within oak wreath. From the Biaggi collection.

 

Congrats on acquiring that very handsome piece, Eduard. That DNW auction was excellent... I tried hard to win a few coins, but bidding was awfully strong and I came away empty-handed.

 

Thank you all very much for your comments, and for posting your coins.
Very nice examples you have all posted of this symbolic type.

As Bing explained, the origins of this type originated in the early days of Rome, and was used not only in sestertii, but also in dupondii, denarii and aurei (in abbreviated form). IoM shows us beautiful examples of the latter 2 types.

Zumbly, as you say, the DNW auction was a real pleasure. There is something to be said for old-time english collections of ancient coinage.
I had set my sights on 3 coins, but could not keep up with the bidding.
This sestertius was at the limit of what I was willing to pay, and was very glad to have it. However, I do regret not pushing myself a little harder on one of the sestertii of Domitian with the emperor on horseback related to the campaigns in Germania, thus my interest.

 

Congrats and wow, that is an awesome coin Eduard. Sometimes you may need to color correct it in whichever software you use for picture editing. I've had received coins that looked brown from the seller that was actually green.

 

Eduard, super nice coin and patina.

Doug

 

Man, talk about eye-appeal!! Lovely coin!