239, Lot: 552. Estimate $300. Sold for $290. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Caracalla. AD 198-217. Æ As (9.20 g, 6h). British Victory type. Rome mint. Struck AD 210. Laureate head right / Virtus standing left, right foot on helmet, holding parazonium and spear; to left, captive seated right at base of trophy. RIC IV 458. VF, green patina, areas of red. Rare.

Septimius Severus waged his last military campaign against the Caledionians on the northern border of Britain, where he himself died at his campaign headquarters at York in February 211 AD. Among those who accompanied him on the campaign were his wife Julia Domna, and his two quarrelsome sons, Caracalla and Geta. The campaign was in full swing in 208 AD and continued until 211 AD, being led by Septimius and Caracalla, with the latter taking supreme command after his father had fallen ill. The two often did not agree on matters of strategy, and we are told that at one point Caracalla became so angry that he appeared ready to stab his father in the back before the whole of the army.