442, Lot: 3. Estimate $200. Sold for $700. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Gallienus. AD 253-268. Ӕ Sestertius (29.5mm, 18.39 g, 11h). Rome mint. 1st issue, AD 253-254. IMP C P LIC GALLIENVS AVG, laureate and cuirassed bust right / LIBE[RA]LIT[AS] AVGG, Liberalitas standing left, holding tessera and cornucopiae; S C across field. MIR 36, 9dd; RIC V (joint reign) 220 var. (bust type); Banti 30 var. (obv. legend). VF, green-brown patina with some porosity. Extremely rare, only one specimen noted by MIR (in the ANS).

Ex Lanz 60 (11 June 1992), lot 856.

The object described in catalogues as a tessera may be a writing tablet listing the names of recipients of imperial largesse, or alternatively an abacus for use in monetary calculations (Melville Jones 1990, p. 168).