Trajan, 98-117. Dupondius (Orichalcum, 26 mm, 13.36 g, 7 h), Rome, winter 114-early 116. IMP CAES NERVAE TRAIANO AVG GER DAC P M TR P COS VI P P Radiate and draped bust of Trajan to right, seen from behind.
Rev. S P Q R OPTIMO PRINCIPI / S - C Trajan's Column: column, surmounted by statue of Trajan standing front, holding globe and spear, set on decorated podium and flanked by eagles. BMC 995. Cohen 563. RIC 603 var. (differing bust type). Woytek 473v. An attractive example with an exceptional rendering of Trajan's Column. Slightly smoothed and with a few faint scratches
, otherwise, about extremely fine.
From the collection of a Swabian artist, formed since the 1980s.
Trajan's Column was erected on the flank of the Quirinal Hill to commemorate his victory in the Dacian Wars. It consists of seventeen marble drums, each adorned with a frieze approximately three feet wide and 656 feet long, spiraling diagonally around the shaft from its base to its summit twenty-three times. The frieze depicts Trajan's campaigns in Dacia, divided into 165 episodes - half covering the First Dacian War (AD 101-102) and half the Second Dacian War (AD 105-106) - and features more than 2,500 human figures. Surmounting the column, as shown on this coin, was a life-sized statue of Trajan, which disappeared during the Middle Ages and was replaced in 1587 by Pope Sixtus V with a bronze statue of St. Peter. The base of the column contained a sepulcher, depicted here with a doorway and friezes, topped by two eagles, and housing the remains of Trajan and his wife, Plotina.
