Antoninus Pius. 138-161 AD.

Æ As (9.71 gm). Struck 154/5

AD. ANTONINVS AVG PIVS P P TR P XVIII, laureate and draped bust right

BRITANN-I[A CO]S IIII, S C in exergue, Britannia seated left on rock, resting head upon hand; shield and vexillum(?) in background before her.

RIC III 934; BMCRE 1971; Cohen 117.

Good VF, dark green patina, minor porosity. Scarce and popular type.

History: There is some debate as to whether or not the BRITANNIA asses of Antoninus Pius were struck in the Roman province of Britannia itself. The latest scholarship (cp. D.R. Walker, The Temple of Sulis Minerva at Bath: Volume 2, the Finds from the Sacred Spring, pp. 295-296) repeatedly alludes to the coins as "British associated," and is careful to draw the line between declaring either a British or a Roman manufacture. In regards to the BRITANNIA dupondii, Walker does state that they were produced in Rome for shipment to Britain, and it is unlikely that the asses would have been manufactured at a mint other than the same as that striking the dupondii. Nevertheless, the peculiar fabric of this issue, so different than that which is normally encountered and is of unquestionable provenance, as well as the fact that not a single specimen has been excavated outside of Britain would seem to indicate that provincial manufacture is not unlikely.