Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
Sestertius - Hadrian BRITANNIA S C, Britannia
| Issuer | Roman Imperial Mint |
|---|---|
| Year | 130-133 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Orichalcum |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | HADRIANVS AVG COS III P P (Translation: Hadrianus Augustus, Consul Tertium, Pater Patriae. Hadrian, emperor (Augustus), consul for the third time, father of the nation.) |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | BRITANNIA S C (Translation: Britannia. Senatus Consultum. Britain. Decree of the senate.) |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
This issue commemorates Hadrian's visit to Britain around 122 AD, during which he ordered construction of the wall that bears his name — the most substantial Roman fortification in northwest Europe. The BRITANNIA sestertius belongs to a broader "travel series" Hadrian commissioned to celebrate his extensive provincial tours, a propagandistic program without precedent among his predecessors. Britain was among the more politically charged choices: the northern frontier remained genuinely contested, and the wall itself was still under construction when these coins were being struck in Rome.
The type is well attested in RIC II.3 but surface quality on orichalcum sestertii of this period varies considerably due to casting porosity in the blanks.