Nomos 15

Julia Maesa, Augusta, 218-224/5. Sestertius (Orichalcum, 31 mm, 23.19 g, 12 h), struck under her grandson, Elagabalus, Rome, 218-220. IVLIA MAESA AVG Diademed and draped bust of Julia Maesa to right, her hair tied in a bun at the back. Rev. PVDICITIA / S C Pudicitia, veiled, seated to left on throne, lifting her veil with her right hand and holding a scepter with her left. Banti 8. BMC 395. Cohen 40. RIC 417. Very rare. With a splendid portrait, a dark brown patina and an extensive pedigree. One of the finest known examples. Flan crack and some very minor old scratches, otherwise, good very fine.

From the Molard Collection, Switzerland, ex the New York Sale XXV, 5 January 2011, 214, Numismatica Ars Classica 4, 27 February 1991, 426, Numismatica Ars Classica 2, 21 February 1990, 746, Sternberg XV, 11 April 1985, 473, and from the collection of Captain E.G. Spencer Churchill Ars Classica XVI, 3 July 1933, 1973 and that of M. Collignon Naville II, 12 June 1922, 1360 (bought by L. Forrer of Spink on behalf of Spencer Churchill against Conte Magnaguti).

This sestertius, with its illustrious pedigree going back into at least the 19th century, bears a particularly fine portrait of one of the most powerful of all Roman Imperial women. She was the sister of Julia Domna and the grandmother of Elagabalus and Severus Alexander. She almost single-handedly saved the Severan dynasty after the murder of Caracalla; and, when she realized what a liability Elagabalus had become, more-or-less sanctioned his assassination (along with that of his mother, her daughter Julia Soaemias) and his replacement by her other grandson, Alexander. On this coin we see a woman of both sensitivity and strength. She lived long enough to see the initial successes of her grandson's reign; had she lived longer she might have been able to curb her daughter Mamaea's over-wheening ambition, which was to lead to her own and her son's, murder in 235.