Very Rare Sestertius Commemorating the AD 210 Military Campaign in Scotland

335, Lot: 518. Estimate $3000. Sold for $6000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Geta. AD 209-211. Æ Sestertius (30mm, 20.90 g, 1h). Rome mint. Struck AD 210. Laureate head right, slight drapery / Caracalla and Geta standing left, each extending right hand and holding spear; captive seated right at Caracalla's feet; behind emperors stand three soldiers, each holding signum. RIC IV 157b (R3); Banti 44. VF, olive brown surfaces. Very rare.

From the JDW Collection. Ex Harlan J. Berk BBS 138 (1 June 2004), lot 448; Stanley Gibbons FPL 14 (1977), lot 97.

Septimius Severus’ last military campaign was against the Caledonians on the northern border of Britain. Caracalla and Geta, along with their mother Julia Domna, accompanied Severus to Britain, where Severus would die at his military headquarters in York in February of 211. Caracalla had assumed command of the campaign when his father fell ill, and would lead the Roman army while his younger brother and mother remained at York. The reverse type of this rare sestertius would be among the last to honor the brothers as equals.