Description
Obverse: Head of Vespasian, laureate, right; beaded border. Reverse: Pax standing left, draped, holding a cornucopia in the left hand, a branch in the outstretched right hand; beaded border.
This sestertius was worth 1/100 of a gold aureus. It can be precisely dated to 71 CE because Vespasian (reigned 69-79 CE) held the consulship for a third time starting in January of that year and and held it for the fourth time in 72 CE.
Provenance
Harold Landon, Baltimore, [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Walters Art Museum, 1943, by gift.
Inscriptions
[Inscription, Latin; obverse] IMP(erator) CAES(ar) VESPASIAN(us) AVG(ustus) P(ontifex) M(aximus) TR(ibuniciae) P(otestate) P(ater) P(atriae) CO(n)S(ul) III [Translation] Imperator, Caesar Vespasian Augustus, pontifex maximus, with tribunician power, father of his country, consul for the third time [Inscription, Latin; reverse] PAX AVGVSTI [Translation] The peace of Augustus
Credit
Gift of Harold Landon, 1943
