My first Sestertius

Haha, that did not last long! Good for you DonnaML! Collect what you like and how you like.

That is a very interesting type, too. I have not seen it before. Great catch.

Here's my example of MA. It also was my first sestertius:


I now have 9 sestertii. But I hope to add more nice ones in the future, including a complete set of the 12 C's and adoptive emperors (lol...!) But when I wake up, I hope to have sestertii of the Flavian dynasty and the adoptive emperors

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

Ah yes @DonnaML - by all means - I am only too familiar with that!

 

Hey Donna,

I started like you with my first Sestertius five years ago, promising myself to never spend more than 100 USD on a coin and limiting myself to one purchase a month.
This is what had happened by the end of that year :



As you can see I prefer my Sestertii with a golden Orichalcum tone.

Here is my Marcus Aurelius:



IMP CAES M AVREL ANTONINVS AVG P M - bareheaded bust of Marcus Aurelius right, light drapery on left shoulder
CONCORD AVGVSTOR TR P XV COS III S C, Marcus Aurelius, on right, and Lucius Verus, on left, both togate, standing facing each other, clasping right hands and each holding roll in left
Sestertius, Rome mint, May-December 9, 161 AD (first emission of Marcus Aurelius)
32,85 mm / 23,65 gr
RIC 795; MIR 16-6/30; BMCRE, p. 519, 848; cf. Cohen 45; Sear 4962 var. (bareheaded and cuirassed bust), Banti 23 (10 specimens)
ex Stoecklin Collection

Your Marcus Aurelius is listed in Banti (I Grandi Bronzi Imperiali, Vol III-1) as Nr. 262 (BMC 1449 note) with 5 specimens known to Banti in 1985.

Banti lists 5 varieties of Marcus´Aurelius RESTITUTORI ITALIAE Sestertius with a total population of 30 specimens.

The relative rarity of this reverse type is confirmed by the fact that only two specimens were included in the more than 300 Sestertii of Marcus found in the Guelma hoard in Algeria in 1957.

 

Thanks for the information. Although I don't think the Marcus Aurelius-Italia sestertii could really be that rare, even just considering the three shown on this thread now owned by Coin Talk members -- mine, @dougsmit's, and @Roman Collector's -- plus the five currently for sale on VCoins (including the two I showed here, along with three others in considerably lesser condition), plus one more on MA-Shops. Admittedly, OCRE shows a total of only 7 examples of the six different types of this coin listed in RIC as held by the institutions they include, and the CNG Archives list only 5 sold over the last 15 years or so. On the other hand, the free version of Coin Archives shows 5 sold at auction in the last six months, and ACSearch lists 36 examples sold at auction since 2001 (minus any overlap for coins sold more than once; I didn't try to check for duplicates). I don't know exactly how to judge these numbers, or, for comparison purposes, how many examples of a common coin one would expect to have been sold at auction over the last 20 years and listed on acsearch. In any event, I would certainly agree that these coins are not very common, but they don't seem to be incredibly rare. Whatever they are, I'm very happy to have bought one, and hope it arrives soon!

By the way, out of all the ones I looked at, only a few have completely readable reverse legends. I'm not sure why that is.

 

That's a very nice choice for your second sestertius, @DonnaML! Handsome bust, interesting reverse type, and altogether eye-appealing. I can't offhand recall what my second sestertius was, but here's a Marcus Aurelius that was struck in the same year as yours, with the historical context of the campaigns against the Germanic tribes likewise applying.


MARCUS AURELIUS
AE Sestertius. 29.44g, 31mm. Rome mint, AD 173. RIC 1075; Cohen 535. O: M ANTONINVS AVG TR P XXVII, laureate head right. R: IMP VI - COS III, Mercury standing left on pedestal, holding caduceus and purse, within a tetrastyle temple with telamons as columns; semicircular pediment containing, from left to right, tortoise, cockerel, ram, winged helmet, caduceus, and purse; S-C in field, RELIG AVG in exergue.
Notes: This type is popularly associated with the Rain Miracle of the Legio XII Fulminata (Thundering 12th Legion). According to Cassius Dio, sometime during the Marcomannic Wars, the 12th Legion under the command of Marcus Aurelius himself encountered a Quadi army and soon found themselves encircled and heavily outnumbered. Stricken with fatigue, thirst, and the heat, they were on the verge of capture when an Egyptian magician named Anurphis, a companion of the emperor, invoked the aid of Mercury as god of the wind and air. A sudden storm thereafter arose in the midst of the battle, reviving the Romans with rain while destroying their enemies with hail and lightning.

 

My Marcus Aurelius sestertius arrived today, and it was great to hold it in my hand: the diameter isn't that much bigger than my handful of asses and dupondii, but it's noticeably thicker, and feels very heavy by comparison when I hold it -- more so than the Philip II sestertius that was my first. I suppose sestertii were lighter by the mid-3rd century, 100 years after Marcus Aurelius.

I took a couple of photos that show a little more detail than the seller's photos. They're lighter than the actual color (which is more of a chocolate brown, like the seller's photos), but it was a deliberate trade-off so the details would come across more clearly. I'll keep both sets!

 

Nice choice , both sesterius have nice details.

my first sestertius:
Claudius, AE sestertius. Lyons mint. AD 46-47. RIC 96
TI CLAVDIVS CAESAR AVG P M TR P IMP, laureate head right /
EX SC-OB-CIVES-SERVATOS legend in four lines within oak wreath. RIC 96