Septimius Severus. Sestertius

Septimius Severus; 193-211 AD, Rome, 196-7 AD, Sestertius, 25.01g. Cf. BM-605, pl. 25.9 (same obv. die). Obv: [L] SEPT SEV PERT - AVG IMP [VIII] Head laureate r. Rx: [VO]TA PVBLICA around, S C in exergue, Togate, veiled figures of Septimius, taller, on r., and Caracalla Caesar, shorter, on l., both sacrificing over tripod altar between them, Septimius from a patera and Caracalla from his r. hand; each also holds a roll in his l. hand. Ex Curtis L. Clay Collection; purchased from Marc Breitsprecher, Aug. 2019; earlier in the Jeff Clark VOTA collection. A rare type, occurring on only three sestertius reverse dies, that adds the smaller figure of Caracalla to the standard IMP VIII / VOTA PVBLICA type of Septimius sacrificing alone. Of these three sestertius reverse dies that add Caracalla to the type, two place the letters S C across the field, while the third places them in the exergue. Our coin is the rarer variant with S C in exergue, only the second such specimen known to Curtis Clay, the other being in the Vienna collection.. VG