- Stock: Sold
- Model: Sestertius quadriga right
ROMAN. IMPERIAL. ANTONINUS PIUS (A.D. 138-161)
Sestertius, Ae, A.D. 145-161, Rome mint
Rome mint
Av: ANTONINVS - AVG PIVS P P TR P, laureate head of Pius right.
Rv: COS IIII / S C in exergue, Antoninus in slow quadriga left, holding eagle-tipped sceptre.
25,39 g, 31 mm, very fine
RIC 766; C. 31
Beginning in 146, when Hill suggests this coin was struck, Antoninus Pius began to celebrate his approaching tenth anniversary of rule ( decennalia ) with numerous coin types that continued into 147. A broad spectrum of types were used, including those depicting Apollo, Mars, Minerva, Securitas, Spes, Roma and Salus-Fortuna. Foss, however, prefers to see this quadriga type as celebrating Pius' fourth consulate, which he had assumed in the previous year. His argument is strengthened by the fact that Pius' principal heir, the Caesar Marcus Aurelius, who shared that consulship with him, is also shown in a slow quadriga on aurei and sestertii produced in his name.