169, Lot: 244. Estimate $100. Sold for $223. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Trajan. AD 98-117. AR Denarius (19mm, 3.50 g). Rome mint. Struck circa AD 112-115. Laureate and draped bust right / Trajan's Column: column set on podium decorated with eagles, and surmounted by statue of Trajan standing left, holding patera and sceptre. RIC II 292; RSC 558. VF, toned.

Trajan's Column was the crowning glory of Trajan's Forum, built with the spoils of the Dacian Wars, and the last and greatest of the Imperial Fora. Covered by a continuous frieze of the war's events, the column was capped with a gilded heroic statue of the emperor, while an inscription on the base recounted the feat of engineering in the Forum's construction. After Trajan's death, the column became the repository of his ashes.