Trajan Orichalcum Sestertius RIC II Trajan 624

Monetary Context and Denominational Function

During the reign of Trajan (AD 98-117), the monetary system established by Augustus remained fundamentally stable, operating as a bimetallic and trimetallic hierarchy that coordinated gold aurei, silver denarii, and token base-metal fractions. Within this monetary structure, the sestertius served as the largest and most valuable copper-alloy coin. Valued tariffed at four asses or one quarter of a silver denarius, the sestertius occupied a crucial intermediate position between common base-metal everyday small change and precious-metal accounting currency. Large-scale public expenditure, such as public building works, military payments, cash donatives, and state grain subsidies, frequently relied on calculations denominated in sesterces, even when settlements were physically disbursed in silver or gold. Sestertii of the High Empire were traditionally struck in orichalcum, a golden-toned copper-zinc brass alloy that distinguished them visually and metallurgically from the pure red copper used for asses and quadrantes. The extensive broad flan characteristic of the denomination, generally spanning 32 to 35 millimeters in diameter, provided an unparalleled surface for intricate iconographic programs and lengthy imperial legends. Because sestertii circulated actively among all socioeconomic strata within the urban centers of Italy and the Roman provinces, their thematic types were selected deliberately to reinforce civic confidence, celebrate public generosity, or project the peace, abundance, and military security guaranteed by the imperial regime. RIC II Trajan 624 perfectly exemplifies this civic messaging through its prominent invocation of Felicitas.

Production Technology and Mint Organization

All specimens of RIC II Trajan 624 were manufactured at the principal imperial mint of Rome, which exercised an effective monopoly over regular western brass and bronze coinage throughout the Trajanic period. The physical production of large orichalcum flans required rigorous pyrometallurgical processing. Zinc was introduced to copper using the cementation process, in which copper granules, calamine ore (zinc carbonate), and pulverized charcoal were heated in sealed crucibles. The resulting brass ingots were cast into individual circular coin blanks using clay mold trees or open molds, followed by mechanical annealing to soften the metal before striking. At the mint, organized into functional workshops (officinae), blank flans were placed between hand-carved intaglio dies while hot or slightly reheated to achieve high relief and sharp detail. The lower (obverse) die was set into an anvil base, while the upper (reverse) die was positioned by hand on a punch and struck with a heavy hammer. Sestertius weight standards during the late Trajanic era targeted a central modal distribution around 25.0 to 27.5 grams, with legitimate specimens often ranging from 23.0 to over 29.0 grams due to batch-weighting practices (al marco) rather than precision weighing of individual blanks. Die axes for this issue predominantly conform to a vertical alignment (six o'clock or twelve o'clock), standard for imperial Rome in the second century AD.

Obverse Iconography and Imperial Portraiture

The obverse of RIC II Trajan 624 presents a mature right-facing portrait of Trajan crowned with the civic laurel wreath, the classic badge of victory and martial triumph. By the early 110s AD, the portrait style of Trajan's coinage had fully matured into the celebrated 'decennalia' and post-decennalia style, abandoning the sharper, dry verism inherited from late Flavian conventions in favor of a monumental, dignified realism. Trajan is shown with his characteristic straight, low-cut hair brushed forward over the forehead, a firm jawline, a prominent aquiline nose, and deeply set eyes, conveying gravitas, fortitude, and civic modesty. Minor engraving variations exist across surviving dies of this type. While the imperial head and neck are consistently shown bare except for the laurel ties falling down the nape, some dies display subtle drapery over the far shoulder or incorporate a fold of the aegis, a mythical attribute associated with Jupiter and Minerva symbolizing divine protection. The portrait is framed by a continuous, neatly spaced circumferential inscription running clockwise from the lower left, enclosed within an outer border of fine round pellets.

Reverse Iconography and Symbolism

The reverse of RIC II Trajan 624 is devoted to Felicitas, the personification of fruitful happiness, success, and divinely sanctioned civic well-being. She is depicted standing facing left, dressed in traditional Roman stola and palla that fall in soft vertical folds around her feet. In her right hand, Felicitas raises a winged caduceus, the ancient heraldic staff associated with Mercury that symbolized peace, commerce, and harmonious public order. In her left arm, she cradles a cornucopiae, the horn of plenty overflowing with agricultural produce, symbolizing abundant sustenance, material prosperity, and fruitful harvests. Flanking the standing figure within the lower fields are the large letters S and C, an abbreviation for Senatus Consulto ('by decree of the Senate'). This long-standing epigraphic formula denoted senatorial sanction for the production and legal tender of base-metal issues, preserving the constitutional fiction of shared republican administration between princeps and Senate. The pairing of the caduceus and cornucopiae explicitly linked the stability of Trajan's regime with universal commercial prosperity and domestic tranquility, offering a message of civic reassurance in the years immediately preceding his eastern campaigns against Parthia.

Inscriptions and Epigraphic Analysis

The extensive obverse inscription reads: IMP CAES NERVAE TRAIANO AVG GER DAC P M TR P COS VI P P. Expanding the standard epigraphic abbreviations yields: Imperatori Caesari Nervae Traiano Augusto Germanico Dacico, Pontifici Maximo, Tribunicia Potestate, Consuli Sextum, Patri Patriae. This sequence is notable for its use of the dative case (Traiano Augusto instead of the nominative Traianus Augustus), an epigraphic choice adopted on Trajan's middle-to-late coinage that framed the coin issue as a dedicatory honor offered to the emperor by the Senate and the Roman people. The titles Germanicus and Dacicus commemorate his prestigious victories along the Rhine and the conquest of Dacia, while COS VI confirms the date of issue after his entry into his sixth consulship on January 1, AD 112. The reverse inscription is concisely rendered as FELICITAS AVGVST, followed by S C in the field. This legend expands to Felicitas Augusti, translating as 'the Felicity of the Emperor' or 'Imperial Prosperity'. In Roman political theology, the virtues of the princeps were conceived as active spiritual realities that directly bestowed material benefits upon the Empire. The phrasing asserted that widespread public happiness and thriving economic life were natural outgrowths of Trajan's just and pious governance.

Typology and Chronological Classification

In the standard classification of Roman Imperial Coinage, this issue is cataloged as RIC II Trajan 624. In Bernhard Woytek's comprehensive monograph Die Reichsprägung des Kaisers Traianus (MIR 14), the type falls within the broad sixth-consulship bronze horizon produced between AD 112 and 114, cataloged under group MIR 490v. The terminus post quem of AD 112 is established unequivocally by the consular designation COS VI, as Trajan never accepted a seventh consulship. The terminus ante quem is established by the absence of the title OPTIMVS in the obverse legend. In the late spring or summer of AD 114, the Roman Senate formally conferred Optimus as a regular imperial title rather than merely an informal cognomen, prompting an immediate transformation in the obverse epigraphy across all denominations to include OPTIMO AVG or OPTIMVS PRINCEPS. Because RIC II Trajan 624 retains the older titular formula without OPTIMVS, its striking concluded before this epigraphic reform took effect. The type stands alongside contemporaneous sestertii featuring personifications of Pax, Fortuna, and Annona, forming a cohesive thematic series celebrating the economic and domestic blessings of the mid-Trajanic peace.

Circulation, Hoards, and Archaeological Context

As a principal denomination of everyday commerce, sestertii of RIC II Trajan 624 saw prolonged and vigorous circulation throughout the western Roman world. Archaeological excavation reports and stray find databases demonstrate that mid-Trajanic sestertii entered extensive distribution channels encompassing the Italian heartland, the Gallic and Germanic frontiers, Raetia, Noricum, and Britain. The substantial physical mass and purchasing power of the sestertius made it a preferred vehicle for medium-value transactions, military commissary purchases, and regional trade. Because brass sestertii suffered continuous surface attrition during handling, many surviving specimens exhibit moderate to heavy wear, frequently remaining in circulation into the reigns of Antoninus Pius, Marcus Aurelius, and the Severan dynasty before being hoarded or demonetized. Hoard evidence from western Europe confirms that Trajan's sestertii frequently turn up in composite base-metal deposits dating to the mid-second and early third centuries AD, often displaying dark green, brown, or black patinas resulting from local soil chemistry. Countermarks are uncommon on this specific Rome-mint series, indicating that the coins maintained recognized fiduciary value and circulated freely without the need for regional re-validation.

References

1. The Metallurgy of Roman Silver Coinage: From the Reform of Nero to the Reform of Trajan. pp. 433-440
2. Coinage in the Roman Economy, 300 B.C. to A.D. 700. pp. 85-98
3. The Roman Imperial Coinage, Volume II: Vespasian to Hadrian. p. 288, no. 624
4. Untersuchungen zur römischen Reichsprägung des zweiten Jahrhunderts, Teil I: Die Reichsprägung zur Zeit des Traian. Stuttgart, 1931, nos. 418-422
5. Die Reichsprägung des Kaisers Traianus (98-117). Moneta Imperii Romani 14. MIR 14, no. 490v