A Distinguished Collection of Roman Bronze Coins, the Property of a Gentleman

Roman Imperial Coinage, Trajan, Sestertius, Rome, 99, laureate bust right wearing ægis, imp caes nerva traian avg germ p m tr p, rev. cos ii p p cong p r, Trajan seated left on curule chair set on ornamented platform; before him an officer seated left and a togate man standing right; below, citizen mounting steps; in background Liberalitas holding tessera, s c in exergue, 25.03g (RIC 381; C 55). Nearly extremely fine, green-brown patina £600-800

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, A Distinguished Collection of Roman Bronze Coins, the Property of a Gentleman.

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Provenance: C.E.G. Mackerell Collection, Sotheby Auction, 16-18 May 1906, lot 98; C.S. Bement Collection, Naville Auction VIII (Lucerne), 25-8 June 1924, lot 812; Baldwin FPL October 1938 (61); bt Baldwin June 1939.

Liberalitas was the personification of generosity and appears on the coinage under several emperors including Trajan. This coin depicts the congiarium or giving of money or gifts and shows the Emperor distributing cash to the populace at the somewhat belated ceremony to celebrate his adventus or formal arrival into Rome in 99