Trajan Decius. AD 249-251. Æ Double Sestertius (33.5mm, 30.28 g, 11h). Rome mint, 4th officina. 3rd emission, AD 250. Good VF.

Keystone 17 – The W. Toliver Besson Collection
Lot: 258. Estimated: $ 500

Roman Imperial, Bronze

Sold For $ 1 800. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

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Trajan Decius. AD 249-251. Æ Double Sestertius (33.5mm, 30.28 g, 11h). Rome mint, 4th officina. 3rd emission, AD 250. Radiate and cuirassed bust right / Felicitas standing left, holding long caduceus and cornucopia. RIC IV 115a; Banti 9. Dark red-brown patina, smoothing. Good VF. A proto-contorniate, the edges having been tapped to create raised rims.

From the W. Toliver Besson Collection. Ex Goldberg 103 (20 February 2018), lot 2207; Bertolami Fine Arts 29 (22 March 2017), lot 610.

Proto-contorniate is the modern term used to describe Roman Imperial and Provincial bronze coins of the first, second, and early third centuries with hammered-up edges. These raised edges on the rims probably occurred after these bronze issues no longer circulated and ceased to be part of the currency in general use. These proto-contorniates are of both emperors and empresses and consist almost exclusively of earlier sestertii, dupondii, and asses. Although several different theories to explain this alteration have been offered over the years, it is generally accepted today that these were given by friends and family to each other as New Year’s gifts, perhaps in the late third and first half of the fourth centuries. This was first proposed by Andreas Alföldi in Die Kontorniaten (Budapest, 1943). The rims hammered in this manner gave them a distinctive appearance.

Closing Date and Time: 22 July 2026 at 11:25:40 ET.



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