During his reign, Antoninus Pius paid particular attention to Britain, crushing a revolt in Northern Britain and pushing the Roman line further North of Hadrians Wall into the Lowlands of Scotland. Its perhaps for this reason that some of his coinage features a mournfully seated Britannia, so that the Romans could show off that they had conquered the ‘barbarians’ of Britain. It would be 1,500 years before Britannia was revived for use in the copper coinage of Charles II.
This is a roman empirical coin of Antoninus Pius, depicting the rare reverse of a pensive brittania.
RIC II, ANTONINUS PIUS, AS, NO.934.
obverse: Antoninus Pius, laureate, draped, bust facing right. ANTONINVS AVG PIVS PP TRP XVIII
Reverse: brittania Seated left on rock, shield and vexillum in background. BRITTANNIA COS IIII - S C (exergue)
9.04 grams. Malachite deposits on surface.
Described as rare. Nice patina and the malachite deposit
Priced at 150£ no reserve for its significance. Feel free to look up other versions of this coin online. Purchased in East Sussex, 2018.