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Rare Britannia Issue

243, Lot: 352. Estimate $1000.
Sold for $900. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Antoninus Pius. AD 138-161. Æ Sestertius (31mm, 22.76 g, 12h). Rome mint. Struck AD 143-144. Laureate head right / BRIT AN NIA, Britannia seated left on rock, leaning on shield, holding signa and spear. RIC IV 742. VF, nice leather brown patina. Rare.


One of Pius' first actions as emperor was to send Q. Lollius Urbicus, a previous governor of Germania Inferior, to Britain to quell a number of revolts. While most of the sources note the Brigantes (located in Northumbria) as the primary focus of these events, circa 143-144 AD, most of his campaigning was against the lowland tribes of Scotland, the Votadini, Selgovae, Damnonii, and Novantae. His campaigns were successfully completed by 144, after which Urbicus and the Legio II Augusta built the Antonine Wall. This issue of sestertii was struck in commemoration of these events, for which Pius was likely acclaimed imperator for the second time.