Arch of Nero Claudius Drusus Sestertius

428, Lot: 347. Estimate $750. Sold for $850. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Claudius. AD 41-54. Æ Sestertius (36mm, 25.13 g, 6h). Rome mint. Struck AD 42-43. Laureate head right / Triumphal arch surmounted by equestrian statue right, spearing downward between two trophies. RIC I 114; von Kaenel Type 71. VF, Tiber patina, some spots of corrosion.

Ex Classical Numismatic Group 67 (22 September 2004), lot 1311.

The Arch of Nero Claudius Drusus was erected by order of the Senate sometime after the death of Drusus in 9 BC. Located on the Via Appia, it commemorated his victories along the German frontier. Eventually, the presence of the arch may have lent its name to the surrounding region, known colloquially as the vicus Drusianus (Drusus' district). By the late fourth century AD, the arch may have survived as the arch then known as the arcus Recordationis (Arch of Remembrance).