Following the suppression of a serious revolt in northern Britain early in his reign, Antoninus Pius won his second imperatorial acclamation.  At this point it was decided to push the frontier further north from the line of Hadrian’s Wall; the Antonine Wall a turf and timber construction was built across the narrower Forth-Clyde isthmus, bringing the unruly tribes of Lowland Scotland within the borders of the empire.

RB152 -  Romano-British, Commodus (A.D.177-192), AE Sestertius, 18.15g., Rome mint, A.D. 184-185, laureate bust right, M COMMODVS ANTON AVG PIVS BRIT, rev., seated figure of Victory right on shields, inscribing shield set on knee TR P X IMP VII COS IIII, VICT BRIT in exergue (Askew 33; RIC 452),  almost very fine, rare. $495

R1463 - Claudius (A.D. 41-54), British Imitation, Copper As, 7.65g., A.D. 41-42, a bare head of Claudius left, TI CLAVDIVS CAESAR AVG P M TR P IMP, rev., Minerva advancing right brandishing spear and holding shield, dividing S C (RCV 1861; RIC 100), handsome solid jade green patina, very fine. $295

RB118 – ROMAN BRITAIN, Antoninus Pius (A.D.138-161), Æ As, 10.23g., struck A.D.154-155, laureate head right, ANTONINVS AVG PIVS P P TR P XVIII, rev., BRI[TANNIA COS IIII], Britannia seated left on rock, resting head upon hand, shield and vexillum in background before her, S C in exergue (RIC 934), good fine. $125

In the last months of Marcus Aurelius's life there was a serious incursion by the northern tribes into the province of Britannia, the wall was overrun and possibly even the governor himself lost in battle. The wall in question is likely to have been the Hadrianic frontier, the Antonine wall having been already abandoned. Ulpius Marcellus was dispatched by to Britain and by A.D. 184 had secured a victory for the now sole emperor Commodus. This type was struck in commemoration of that victory.

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