Trajan’s Column

257, Lot: 387. Estimate $150. Sold for $425. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Trajan. AD 98-117. AR Denarius (19mm, 2.99 g, 8h). Rome mint. Struck AD 114-115. Laureate and draped bust right / Trajan's Column: column surmounted by statue of Trajan standing left, holding patera and scepter, and set on podium decorated with eagles. RIC II 356; Woytek 514v; RSC 284. VF, toned, minor roughness, slightly irregular flan.

From the Sierra Collection.

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.