★ Sack of Rome: rare variety ★

Honorius (393-423), AE4, issued 404-408. Rome, third officina, 1.74g, 15-17mm.
Obv: DN HONOR–IVS PF AVG; pearl-diademed, draped, cuirassed bust right.
Rev: VRBS ROMA FELIX; Roma standing facing, head also facing, holding trophy and Victory, shield resting against her legs. OF-T across fields; SMROM in ex.
RIC X 1274(R), Esty type 49, LRBC 823

VRBS ROMA FELIX are scarce in this condition generally, but this variety, with Roma’s head facing, is rare. It comes from earlier in the series when the flans were typically larger.

This type is one of the most ironic in the entire Roman series. Issued only at Rome, it proclaims the luck of the city. In 408, when this issue was still being produced, the city was besieged by the Visigoths under Alaric, and then on Aug. 24th 410, someone opened Rome’s Salarian Gate and the Goths pillaged the city for three horrific days. By the forgiving standards of an ancient sack, deaths were mercifully few, but the city was stripped of its enormous wealth and many captives were taken, including the emperor Honorius’s sister, Galla Placidia, later forced to marry a Gothic leader. Innumerable great buildings were ransacked, including the Mausoleums of Augustus and Hadrian, where the ashes of emperors were scattered to the four winds.

Rome had not experienced a sack for nearly 800 years. St. Jerome called it “the decapitation of the Empire,” and to many it seemed like the end of the world. Thousands of refugees fled, the once wealthy now destitute. Combining deaths due to starvation, disease, and the sack itself, Rome’s population fell from 800,000 to 500,000 practically overnight. The glory that was Rome was capital-O Over.

At such a difficult time, it’s understandable that the mint’s products would suffer in quality. We have never seen a fully struck-up example with full legends; this coin is better than most. (For more on this fascinating type, see our write-up at https://bit.ly/VRFdetails.)