Danubian Bridge

448, Lot: 458. Estimate $150. Sold for $220. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Trajan. AD 98-117. Æ Sestertius (33.5mm, 23.38 g, 6h). Rome mint. Struck circa AD 107-110. Laureate bust right, slight drapery / Arched, single-span bridge with seven posts across Danube River; single-bay arches at either end; boat sailing left in river below. RIC II 569; Woytek 314bC; Banti 262. Brown patina, minor porosity, short edge split. Fine.

The bridge on the reverse of this coin is generally thought to be that constructed across the Danube by Trajan’s architect, Apollodorus of Damascus, in AD 104. There is good circumstantial evidence for this. The date range for this coin’s issue is closely contemporary with the date of the bridge’s construction and would fit in well programmatically with those war-related issues of the same time frame.