Roma Numismatics Ltd
E-Sale 102 3 Nov 2022
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Hadrian Æ Sestertius. Rome, AD 119-120. [IMP CAESA]R TRAIANVS HADRIANVS AVG P M TR P COS III, laureate bust to right, slight drapery on far shoulder / RELIQVA VETERA HS NOVIES MILL ABOLITA, lictor standing to left, holding fasces, setting fire to heap of bonds with torch; S-C across fields. RIC II.3 262; Banti 620; BMCRE 1206 var. 25.08g, 34mm, 8h.
Very Fine; some encrustations to obv., rev. stripped. Rare.
Known from ancient sources such as Dio Cassius (LXIX.8.1a) to have made regular and generous largesse to the people of Rome, Italy and indeed many of the provinces as well, this coin depicts an unusual scene of a lictor burning the promissory notes relating to tax arrears of 900 million sestertii that Hadrian had cancelled. The coin commemorates an actual event in which the records were burnt in the Forum of Trajan in an elaborate ceremony.
Very Fine; some encrustations to obv., rev. stripped. Rare.
Known from ancient sources such as Dio Cassius (LXIX.8.1a) to have made regular and generous largesse to the people of Rome, Italy and indeed many of the provinces as well, this coin depicts an unusual scene of a lictor burning the promissory notes relating to tax arrears of 900 million sestertii that Hadrian had cancelled. The coin commemorates an actual event in which the records were burnt in the Forum of Trajan in an elaborate ceremony.