233, Lot: 329. Estimate $300. Sold for $650. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Domitian. AD 81-96. Æ Sestertius (35mm, 22.75 g, 6h). Rome mint. Struck AD 88. Laureate head right / [COS] XIIII [LVD SAEC FEC], Domitian standing right; behind him, companion standing right; before him, three children in procession right, holding branches. RIC II 615. Good Fine, brown surfaces, minor roughness.

From the John Bitner Collection of Secular Games Coinage.

The principal types celebrating the Ludi Saeculares (Secular Games) of AD 88 appeared on the aes denominations of Domitian's coinage. When Augustus decided to stage his Secular Games the length of the saeculum was fixed at 110 years. Domitian's celebration of his Ludi Saeculares in AD 88 rather than 93 would seem to suggest that Augustus' games of 17 BC had been postponed from an originally intended date of 22 BC. However, Severus' games of AD 204 were apparently calculated from the actual date of the celebration of the Augustan festival.