Watch List notes:

The Roman Empire

Aelius Caesar, 136 – 138. Sestertius 137, Æ 29.07 g. L AELIVS – CAESAR Bare head r. Rev. T – R POT – COS II Salus seated l., feeding out of patera snake coiled round altar; in field, S – C and, in exergue, SALVS. C 44. BMC Hadrian 1926. RIC Hadrian 1063.
Rare and in superb condition for this issue. An impressive portrait struck in very
high relief and an untouched enamel-like dark-green patina. An absolutely
unobtrusive area of weakness on reverse, otherwise extremely fine

Ex NAC sale 27, 2004, 400.
Aelius Caesar, formerly known as L. Ceionius Commodus (Aelius Spartianus recounts his life in Historia Augusta) was of Etruscan origin. He became consul in AD 136, having been adopted by Hadrian in the summer of that year. His appointment came as a general surprise: according to the gossip, Hadrian chose him for his beauty, or perhaps because he considered him a suitable caretaker who would make way for his own favourite, M. Annius Verus, just fifteen years old at the time. In the opinion of Carcopino, Aelius had been adopted because he was Hadrian's illegitimate child. A wan figure with a delicate constitution, he suffered a heavy fall while making an address of thanks for Hadrian and died of a haemorrhage. The Historia Augusta (Vita Ael 7) tells us that "Hadrian had gigantic statues raised to Aelius Verus in all regions of the empire, temples too in some cities, and desired that Aelius' son Verus, who had remained within the imperial family after his father's death, be adopted as his grandson, by Antoninus Oius together with Marcus."