Trajan Sestertius

IMP CAES NERVAE TRAIANO AVG GER DAC PM TRP CO VI PP
Trajan facing right with aegis on front shoulder and behind the neck of the portrait.

Rev. SPQR OPTIMO PRINCIPI SC in Ex
Trajan on horseback holding spear and victory

Rome 112-114 AD
Rare

RIC 599

34mm 23.6g

Ex-Arcade coins

SOLD!

Comments from Mr. C. Clay:
"The interest of this rev. type, apart from its rarity on sestertii, is that it apparently represents the famous equestrian statue of Trajan in his Forum, which mightily impressed Constantius II when he visited Rome in 357 AD, but of which nothing is today extant.

This interpretation of the type is based on its date, soon after 1 Jan. 112 (Trajan COS VI), which we know was the dedication date of the Forum. Other coins of similar date explicitly commemorated the Forum, with legends FORVM TRAIANI and BASILICA VLPIA, and the horseman coin type make a very statuesque impression, the upright spear in the emperor's right hand hitting the ground and apparently providing support for that corner of the statue, in place of the raised right foreleg of the horse.

Moreover, when Septimius Severus used a very similar type on his own coins, he joined it with the famous Trajanic rev. legend SPQR OPTIMO PRINCIPI, the only time this legend appeared in Septimius' coinage. Who can doubt that these coins commemorate the Senate's vote of an equestrian statue to Septimius too, and that this statue deliberately imitated the famous one of Trajan in his Forum, explaining why the Trajanic legend was revived for the rev. type?"