Marcus Aurelius - The Philosopher Emperor

Marcus Aurelius would rather have spent his time improving the administration of the empire, and the lives of his subjects - instead he was forced to fight bitter wars on the German frontier, which ultimately consumed him, only to be succeeded by the madman Commodus.

Here is one of my better sestertii, with a nice portrait of the emperor.

 

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Coincidentally I am on the hunt for a denarius of him. I dont usually pay attention to sestertii but this is a great example. Amazing portrait.

 

A very nice portrait! Heres one of mine, though not as nice. Could have taken a better pic of mine too I suppose

 

I started off my roman collection focusing on bronzes, specially those of the 1st and 2nd century. Later, I discovered the denarii and I must confess they are now also the focus of my collection.

Here is a denarius of Marcus Aurelius, a fairly common type (except that this one is very rare with a draped bust - only one present in the Deka Revnia hoard).

 

Nice!

I am looking for the mature busts with the longer beard. Cant believe the prices for him though. :/

 

Nice one randy! (and don't worry about the pictures - taking good one is an art which i have not mastered either)

 

Man, I would not call that a "better sestertii" Eduard, I would call it an outstanding example. I have not seen better except in very high priced auctions.

 

Thanks I have a few more but nothing in great condition.

 

That is a really nice obverse! Sestertii of the period are often weak on the reverse and this one is weak at the top but it is still much better than most. Randy's dupondii are struck better (as smaller bronzes seem to be often) but have wear. We all have to ask how much we prefer one over the other. I would expect the wonderful portrait sestertius shown here to sell for ten times the price of the other three bronzes shown here combined.

 

Yes, that sestertius has an outstanding obverse Eduard

Q

 

Since we're showing off our Marcus Aurelius coins, I only have two, but would love to have more examples. Here are my two:

 

Eduard's sestertius is simply superb and I have nothing in my collection that would hold a candle to it.

Hi denarii can be nice too and they don't need to be fully bearded to appeal. This is the best of his denarii that I have owned.



Martin

 

I can find younger busts in my price range but something in me just wants bearded.