Marcus Aurelius augustus, 161 – 180.
Aureus, Roma 176-177, AV 6.95 g. M ANTONINVS AVG – GERM SARM Laureate, draped and cuirassed bust r. Rev. TR P XXXI IMP VIII COS III P P Pile of arms; in exergue, DE SARM. C 172. BMC 739 note. RIC 366. Calicó 1848.
Extremely rare. A very interesting and fascinating issue celebrating the victory
over the Sarmatians. Struck on a full flan and extremely fine

Ex NAC sale 77, 2014, 157. Privately purchased in 1999.
The empire enjoyed an age of relative peace and prosperity under Hadrian and Antoninus Pius, but with the accession of the co-emperors Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus in 161, the nation braced for war. Their immediate tasks were not to draft legislation with the senate or to engage in charitable deeds, but to lead their legions to the great river boundaries and defend their empire. Lucius Verus went to the East to guard against the Parthians and Marcus Aurelius marched northward to the long frontier defined by Rhine and the Danube. Marcus Aurelius was to spend much of his life as emperor waging unwanted wars on the frontiers, which sometimes required leading his soldiers deep into German territory on dangerous expeditions. Not long before this aureus was struck Marcus Aurelius had scored victories over the Sarmatians and the Germans, which he celebrated on coinage struck mainly in 176. These victories Marcus Aurelius celebrates here, though he had to contend with a serious illness and a usurpation by the Syrian governor Avidius Cassius.