Obolos 20

Marcus Aurelius, AD 161-180. Sestertius (Orichalcum, 32 mm, 23.83 g, 12 h), Rome, 176-177. M ANTONINVS AVG GERM SARM TR P XXXI Laureate and cuirassed bust of Marcus Aurelius to right. Rev. IMP VIII COS III P P / S - C / DE GERMANIS Pile of arms including a cuirass, shields of several types, a vexillum, spears and dragon-trumpets. BMC 1596 var. (bust not cuirassed) = Cohen 163 var. = RIC 1184 var. Dark green patina. Porous, otherwise, very fine.

Marcus Aurelius spent his last years on the frontier, fighting the Germans until, after a series of battles, he finally defeated them decisively on the Danube border in 178. The present coin commemorates these earlier victories and shows the varying kinds of weaponry that the Roman forces captured - the dragon-horns being particularly characteristic. This coin is quite a rare variant due to the obverse portrait: most other known examples with this reverse type have a plain, un-draped laureate head rather than a cuirassed one (the British Museum has five of the usual type and none of this variant). Another example, from the same dies but a bit tooled on the obverse, was in the famous Bally-Herzog collection and was originally acquired in 1907.