Vespasian, 1 July 69 - 24 June 79 A.D. Rome mint

Orichalcum sestertius, RIC II 460, (BMCRE II 574), weight 23.556g, max. diameter 32.1mm, 180o, Rome mint, 71 A.D.; obverse IMP CAES VESPAS AVG P M TR P P P COS III, laureate head right; reverse SALVS AVGVSTA S C, Salus seated left, patera in extended right, long scepter vertical behind in left. Thin brown patina worn on high points.

Background info courtsey Forvm Ancient Coins

In 71 A.D., the year this coin was struck, Vespasian and his sons celebrated the vanquishing of the Jews with a triumph in Rome. The Jewish historian Josephus was present at the festivities and noted, "It is impossible to do justice in the description of the number of things to be seen and to the magnificence of everything that met the eye...The greatest amazement was caused by the floats. Their size gave grounds for alarm about their stability, for many were three or four stories high...On one float the army could be seen pouring inside the walls, on another was a place running with blood. Others showed defenseless men raising their hands in entreaty, firebrands being hurled at temples or buildings falling on their owners. On yet others were depicted rivers, which, after the destruction and desolation, flowed no longer through tilled fields providing water for men and cattle, but through a land on fire from end to end. It was to such miseries that the Jews doomed themselves by the war...Standing on his individual float was the commander of each of the captured cities showing the way he had been taken prisoner...Spoil in abundance was carried past. None of it compared with that taken from the Temple in Jerusalem...The procession was completed by Vespasian, and, behind him, Titus. Domitian rode on horseback wearing a beautiful uniform and on a mount that was wonderfully well worth seeing...

Ex Forvm Ancient Coins