Trajan, 98-117. Denarius (Silver, 18 mm, 2.92 g, 7 h), Rome, 108-109. IMP TRAIANO AVG GER DAC P M TR P Laureate head of Trajan to right, with slight drapery on his left shoulder; on neck, assayer mark: lion passant to left within oval incuse. Rev. COS V P P S P Q R OPTIMO PRINC Roma seated left, placing her feet on cushion, holding Victory in her right hand and spear in her left. BMC 276. Cohen 69. RIC 116. Woytek 281b. With a highly interesting silver hallmark. Some cracks and deposits, otherwise, fine.



What makes this heavily worn Trajan denarius particularly noteworthy is the presence of a modern silver hallmark on the emperor’s neck. The mark depicts a lion passant, the symbol used in England since 1544 to certify sterling silver. Sterling, defined as an alloy with a minimum silver content of 92.5%, had already been established as a legal standard in England as early as 1300, but from 1720 onward, the use of hallmarking to enforce this standard became more strictly regulated. Remarkably, this aligns closely with the silver content of denarii struck under Trajan, which averaged around 93%. This suggests that the coin was tested by an English assay office and officially verified for its silver purity. The oval-shaped punch mark is especially rare; it is, for instance, documented on tablespoons from Exeter dating to between 1805 and 1810.