Gemini IV Auction, Closed January 8, 2008.
Lot # 397 Realized: US$5000 

Britannicus, Son of Claudius and Messalina. Orichalcum 
Sestertius (25.94 gm). Uncertain Thracian Mint, 51-54 AD. 

TI CLAVDIVS CAESAR AVG F BRITANNICVS, bare-headed, draped
bust right.
Mars advancing left, holding spear and shield, S-C 
across fields.
BNC 287, pl. XXX = BMCRE 226 note, pl. 37.6 (same 
dies). Cohen 1 (2500 Fr.).  

The rarer of the two variants of this very rare sestertius, with Britannicus facing right not left. 
See the 1984 H.-M. von Kaenel article “Britannicus, 
Agrippina Minor und Nero in Thrakien,” SNR 63, 1984. 
Our coin appears to be from the same dies as the three others with 
bust right known to von Kaenel, his pl. 20.1-3. The sestertii of 
Britannicus were mistakenly omitted from the new edition of RIC I, 
p. 130, since the author still followed Mattingly’s erroneous 
reattribution of them to the restored series of Titus in 80–81 AD. 

Sold for $5000 [ $5750, 3967.5 EUR, 2932.5 GBP

With kind permission of: Freeman & Sear (www.freemanandsear.com) and Harlan J Berk 
(www.harlanjberk.com)