Watch List notes:

JDL Collection Part II: Roman Coins
THE ROMAN EMPIRE.

MACRINUS, April 11, 217–mid 218.

Sestertius, Rome April–December 217, Æ 20.20 g.
Obv. IMP CAES M OPEL SEV MACRINVS AVG His laureate
draped and cuirassed bust right; border of dots.
Rev. PONTIF MAX TR P COS P P Fides standing facing, head right, left foot set on helmet, holding standard in each hand; in exergue, S C. Border of dots.
Literature
Cohen - cf. 61 (cuirassed bust)
BMC RE V - cf. 519, 121 (cuirassed bust) RIC IV/2, 17, 141
Banti 28
M.-M. Bendenoun, Coins of the Ancient World, A portrait of the JDL Collection, Tradart, Genève, 2009, 78 (this coin)
Condition
Rare. A superb portrait of high style struck in high relief and an attractive green patina, minor porosity, otherwise about extremely fine.

Provenance
Bank Leu 28, Zürich 1981, lot 505.
Being one of Caracalla's two praetorian prefects, Macrinus was a trusted man who possessed a great deal of power and who had regular access to the emperor. Caracalla's megalomania- cal behavior had undermined the confidence of the army and its chief officers sufficiently to cause Macrinus to conspire with others to murder him along a remote stretch of road near Car- rhae. Thus ended the life of Caracalla, the would-be Alexander novus, who died in the predictable manner of most 3rd Century emperors.
Macrinus' rise to the highest office in the aftermath of Caracal- la's murder was unprecedented in the larger picture of Roman history – not because he came to power through rebellion, but because he was the first man of equestrian birth to reign as emperor. Though the first, he certainly was not the last. His qualifications proved to be in line with many other soldier-em- perors of his era, who were acclaimed in the field based on their qualifications as generals. The senate, which at this time was becoming increasingly irrelevant to the functioning of the empire, typically was consulted only after the fact, and then merely as a hollow, nostalgic gesture. The sole attempt by the
senate in this era to vigorously enforce its will occurred in 238, a generation after Macrinus' usurpation, when it raised its own candidates against the soldier-emperor Maximinus I.
Upon having been hailed emperor, Macrinus took over the machinery of war, and for a while led the offensive against the Parthians. His efforts appear to have been half-hearted, and he soon sued for peace, offering the enemy large payments
in exchange for a non-aggression pact. This failed to impress the soldiers, who had traveled so far only to be denied the opportunity to claim their share of war booty. When a 14-year- old grandnephew of Julia Domna named Elagabalus, was proposed as a rival to the new emperor, there were many defections among Macrinus' men. Not only was Elagabalus a member of the Severan-Emesan family, he was rumored to have been an illegitimate son of Caracalla. The opposing Roman ar- mies finally clashed near the village of Immae, outside Antioch, where the forces supporting Elagabalus gained the upper hand. Macrinus fled the field and made his way in disguise as far as Calchedon in Bithynia before he was captured and executed.