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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;DonnaML, post: 7605686, member: 110350&quot;][USER=115909]@Gam3rBlake[/USER], 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).&nbsp; Sestertii tend to be quite expensive when in nice condition, and I&#039;m always concerned about the risk of smoothing and/or tooling that others have mentioned. Something that&#039;s much less of a concern with silver coins.&nbsp; Therefore, out of about 250 ancient Roman coins of all types, I have only four sestertii, along with about a dozen &quot;middle bronzes&quot; (asses and dupondii).</p><p><br /></p><p>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 [<i>bracketed portion off flan</i>]. RIC III 1078, Sear RCV II 4997, Cohen 538. 30mm, 25.8g. [<i>According to David Sear (see RCV II at p. 315), this coin &quot;commemorates the deliverance of Italy from the threat of barbarian invasion resulting from the emperor&#039;s successes in his wars against the Germanic tribes of the Danubian region.&quot;</i>] [<i>Purchased from Incitatus Coins, June 2020.</i>]</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1309488[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>Faustina II (wife of Marcus Aurelius &amp; 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), <i>var</i>. [no stars above infants’ heads]; BMCRE MA 949 <i>var </i>[same]; Cohen 222; Dinsdale 006760 &amp; n. 1 [Dinsdale, Paul H., <i>The Imperial Coinage of the Middle Antonines: Marcus Aurelius with Lucius Verus and Commodus</i>, Ch. 4, <i>Faustina II - Undated, 158-176 </i>(<a href="http://romanpaulus.x10host.com/Marcus/04%20-%20Faustina%20II%20-%20Undated,%20158-176%20%28med_res%29.pdf" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://romanpaulus.x10host.com/Marcus/04%20-%20Faustina%20II%20-%20Undated,%20158-176%20%28med_res%29.pdf" rel="nofollow">http://romanpaulus.x10host.com/Marcus/04 - Faustina II - Undated, 158-176 (med_res).pdf</a>) at p. 70] (“Minor rev. variation: sometimes each infant held in arms has star above head”). 31 mm., 24 gm. <i>Purchased from Victor’s Imperial Coins, March 2021. Ex. CNG E-Auction 476, 9/09/2020, part of Lot 762; ex. BLS Collection.</i>*</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1309489[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>*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.)&nbsp; 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 <a href="https://www.acsearch.info/image.html?id=6215913" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.acsearch.info/image.html?id=6215913" rel="nofollow">https://www.acsearch.info/image.html?id=6215913</a> (Numismatik Naumann, Auction 80, Lot 568, 4 Aug 2019).</p><p><br /></p><p>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, <i>Roman Historical Coins.</i></p><p><i><br /></i></p><p>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.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1309490[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>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.&nbsp; (<i>Games commemorating 1,000th&nbsp; anniversary of founding of Rome</i>.)</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1309491[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>Note the decrease in weight over time (from 25.8/24 g. to 17.58 to 16).[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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