Lot 1224
Trajan. Gold Aureus (7.17 g), AD 98-117. Rome, ca. AD 112/3. IMP TRAIANO AVG GER DAC P M TR P COS VI P P, laureate, draped and cuirassed bust of Trajan right. Rev. FORVM TRAIAN in exergue, hexastyle entrance arch to the Forum Traiani surmounted by three statuary groups; the central group depicting the emperor and Nike within a facing quadriga, and the groups to either side depicting a trophy between two standing figures; along the facing wall and between each column, two niches containing statues either side of an open doorway, all ornamented with a shield or wreath above. (cf. RIC 255 (bust type); Woytek 403f1 (same rev. die); BMC 510; Calicó 1030). An important architechtural type. Lustrous. About extremely fine. Estimate $12,500UP
The reverse of this coin depicts the façade of Trajan's Forum, notable as both the last of the imperial fora to be constructed in Rome and for the financing of its construction from the spoils of Trajan's victorious Dacian campaign of AD 105-106. Indeed, it was a grand monument to the emperor's Dacian victories that included within its portico-lined piazza the famous Column of Trajan, which documented the campaign, Trajan's Market, and the Basilica Ulpia, which was surmounted by an equestrian statue of Trajan so great in size and majesty that it caused even the late emperor Constantius II to marvel at it on a rare visit to Rome.
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