001 Titus Mars RIC 499

Ruler: Titus, as Augustus, 79-81 AD

Denomination: Sestertius

Obverse:  IMP T CAES DIVI VESP F AVG P M TR P P P COS VIII, laureate head right.

Reverse: Mars advancing right, holding spear and trophy over shoulder; S-C across fields.

Mint: uncertain mint, Rome or Thrace, 80-81 AD.

Weight: 25,42

Diameter: 34mm

Reference: RIC II.1, 499. RPC II, 502. Cohen 203 corr; BMCRE 310

Provenance: Lipsia Numismatics auction 1 lot 121 = ex Belgian private Collection, Brussels, July 2024.

Note: Noted by Carradice and Buttrey in RIC II as having "large portraits with heavy, muscular necks, large reverse figures and lettering that tends to be crowded and heavily seriffed", the mint location for bronze coins such as the present piece still remains unknown. In operation through the Julio-Claudian and Flavian periods, during which time the main mints were at Rome and Lugdunum, suggestions including Gaul, Bithynia, or Thrace have been put forward.

Collection : 30 Roman Sestertii, asses and dupondii