| Roma Numismatics Ltd > E-Sale 119 | Auction date: 24 April 2024 |
| Lot number: 1410 Price realized: 95 GBP (Approx. 118 USD / 111 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | |
| Lot description: Antoninus Pius Æ Sestertius. Rome, AD 140-144. ANTONINVS AVG PIVS P P TR P COS III, laureate head to right, drapery on far shoulder / OPI AVG, Ops seated to left, holding transverse sceptre and drawing up drapery with left hand, left elbow resting on throne; SC in exergue. RIC III 612; BMCRE 1261. 27.00g, 31mm, 11h. Good Very Fine; lightly tooled, some areas of corrosion. From the JTB Numismatic Collection, collector's ticket included; Ex Classical Numismatic Group, Electronic Auction 531, 25 January 2023, lot 1125. Estimate: 150 GBP |  |
Match 1:
| Roma Numismatics Ltd > E-Sale 114 | Auction date: 23 November 2023 |
| Lot number: 958 Price realized: 240 GBP (Approx. 299 USD / 275 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | |
| Lot description: Antoninus Pius Æ Sestertius. Rome, AD 140-144. ANTONINVS AVG PIVS P P TR P COS III, laureate head to right / ANNONA AVG, Annona standing facing, head to right, holding cornucopiae and grain-ears over modius; prow of ship in background; S-C across fields. RIC III 597; C. 34; BMCRE 1226. 25.81g, 33mm, 12h. Good Very Fine. From the collection of SC; Ex Roma Numismatics Ltd., E-Sale 73, 23 July 2020, lot 774. Annona was the divine personification of the grain supply to the city of Rome, a creation of Imperial pseudo-religious propaganda, manifested in iconography and cult practice, but lacking in narrative mythology or a historical tradition of devotion. The Roman government used the term Cura Annonae ("care for the grain supply"), in reference to the import and distribution of grain to the residents of the city of Rome. Rome imported most of the grain consumed by its urban population, estimated to number one million people by the second century AD. Most of this grain was distributed through commercial or non-subsidized channels, but a dole of subsidized or free grain, and later bread, was provided by the government to about 200,000 of the poorer residents of the city of Rome. It has been estimated that each year as much as 60,000,000 modii of grain (about 420,000 tonnes) reached the city, equivalent to approximately 1,200 large vessels containing 50,000 modii (about 350 tonnes) each. The grain ships that sailed principally from Egypt and Africa, and the shipping lanes they travelled were therefore of strategic importance. Whoever controlled the grain supply had an important measure of control over the city of Rome, which was utterly reliant on regular imports. The depiction of Annona with a modius and grain ship on this coin is therefore closely associated with the principate, being one of the most ubiquitous and important manifestations of the emperor's power to care for his people. The date when the Cura Annonae ended is unknown, but it may have lasted even into the 6th century, by which time the population of Rome had greatly declined through famine, war and economic ruin to as little as 100,000. The great machinery of empire that had once spanned all of Europe and sustained the greatest city on earth had been effectively shattered by barbarian migration and subsequent warfare, and with the eventual disappearance of the great grain fleets it would not be until the sixteenth century that vessels of similar tonnages would ply the waters of the Mediterranean again. Estimate: 150 GBP |  |
Match 2:
| Roma Numismatics Ltd > E-Sale 117 | Auction date: 22 February 2024 |
| Lot number: 878 Price realized: 110 GBP (Approx. 139 USD / 128 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | |
| Lot description: Antoninus Pius Æ Sestertius. Rome, AD 140-144. ANTONINVS AVG PIVS P P TR P COS III, laureate head to right / REX ARMENIIS DATVS, emperor standing to left, crowning king of Armenia standing to left; [SC] in exergue. RIC III 619; C. 686; BMCRE 1273. 26.15g, 33mm, 12h. Near Very Fine. Ex cgb.fr e-shop. Due to Parthia's weakened condition, Rome was able to choose the king of Armenia as commemorated on this issue. Estimate: 50 GBP |  |
Match 3:
| Roma Numismatics Ltd > E-Sale 117 | Auction date: 22 February 2024 |
| Lot number: 875 Price realized: 95 GBP (Approx. 120 USD / 111 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | |
| Lot description: Antoninus Pius Æ Sestertius. Rome, AD 140-144. ANTONINVS AVG PIVS P P TR P COS III, laureate head to right / SALVS AVG, Salus standing to left, holding patera over snake-entwined altar and sceptre; S-C across fields. RIC III 635; C. 711; BMCRE 1303. 27.79g, 34mm, 6h. Very Fine. Ex cgb.fr e-shop; Ex WAG Online oHG, Auction 128, 13 March 2022, lot 58. Estimate: 100 GBP |  |
Match 4:
| Roma Numismatics Ltd > E-Sale 117 | Auction date: 22 February 2024 |
| Lot number: 876 Price realized: 95 GBP (Approx. 120 USD / 111 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | |
| Lot description: Antoninus Pius Æ Sestertius. Rome, AD 140-144. ANTONINVS AVG PIVS P P TR P COS III, laureate head to right / MONETA AVG, Moneta standing facing, head to left, holding scales and cornucopiae; S-C across fields. RIC III 610; C. 556; BMCRE 1253-4. 25.15g, 31mm, 12h. Very Fine; scrape to obv. Ex cgb.fr e-shop. Estimate: 75 GBP |  |
Match 5:
| Roma Numismatics Ltd > E-Sale 115 | Auction date: 21 December 2023 |
| Lot number: 871 Price realized: 160 GBP (Approx. 203 USD / 185 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | |
| Lot description: Antoninus Pius Æ Sestertius. Rome, AD 145-161. ANTONINVS AVG PIVS [P P TR P COS III], laureate head to right / Emperor advancing to right, followed by an accensus and three soldiers carrying standards; S-C across fields, [DISCIPLIN AVG] in exergue. RIC III 604 corr. (rev. legend); C. 351 corr. (same); BMCRE 1240 note corr. (same); Roma E-102, 951. 20.33g, 32mm, 12h. Near Very Fine. Extremely Rare; seemingly only one example on CoinArchives. From the collection of a European engineer. Estimate: 100 GBP |  |
