Lot 4774

Description

Trajan, (A.D. 98-117), AE sestertius, issued 113, Rome mint, (25.61 g), obv. laureate head to right of Trajan, around IMP CAES NERVA TRAIAN AVG GERM DACICVS P M, rev. Trajan seated left on curule chair on raised platform, extending hand, before, official seated left, drawing tessera from container and handing it to figure climbing ladder right, who is extending his hand to receive it, statue of Liberalitas standing left, holding abacus, and tripod, on dais behind, around COS V CONGIAR SECVND, S C below, (S.3182 [this coin], RIC 450, C.61 var, BMC 767). Toned, slight hoard patination, nearly very fine - very fine with a strong portrait, very rare.

The largess portrayed on the reverse was given on the occasion of Trajan's fifth consulship and is likely tied to the successful conclusion of the first Dacian war the previous year.
This is the plate coin on page 107 of Sear's Roman Coins and Their Values II, 2002.