Watch List notes:

The Roman Empire
Diva Marciana, sister of Trajan. Denarius, Roma 112-August 117, AR 3.40 g.

Description: DIVA AVGVSTA – MARCIANA Draped bust r., hair elaborately dressed, above which crescent-shaped diadem. Rev. CONSECRATIO Eagle with spread wings perched l. on sceptre, head r.

References: C 4
BMC Trajan 651
RIC 743
CBN Trajan 758
Woytek 7193
Condition:Very rare and in exceptional condition for the issue, among the finest specimens known.
A wonderful portrait and a magnificent old cabinet tone, good extremely fine
Provenance: Leu sale 7, 1973, 368
M&M sale 66, 1984, 603
Tradart sale 4, 1991, 294
Numismatica Genevensis sale 6, 2010, 162
Tradart sale December 2014, 305

Note: Historians disagree about the date of Marciana's death: some place it in 105, the year that she and Plotina jointly took the title of Augusta, while others suggest a date as late as 112 or 114. One of the two later dates seems more likely. This posthumous coinage does represent a novelty in Roman numismatics, for the word consecratio first appears here, and thereafter was employed frequently for posthumous coinages. Following Marciana's death, her daughter Matidia was raised to the rank of Augusta, and coinage was struck in her name in addition to that already being struck in the name of Trajan's wife, Plotina.