Ancient Roman, Empire Bronze Coin pendant - Emperor Pertinax

Silver pendant with a bronze sestertius from the 2nd century AD of Emperor Pertinax, the central payment pillar during his 3 months in office.

In a few words, 87 days, from January to March of 193 AD, making it a scarce piece of which few specimens survive.

Because, although this sestertius was the coin of daily commerce, budgets, staff salaries and some soldiers’, i.e., the base of remuneration, were made with sesterces, since, as a large means of payment, it was ideal for disseminating messages and restoring confidence in the administration after Commodus’s debauchery.

And it was also the pillar of payment of fines, valuable objects and properties, even if it circulated less than other minor coins, since these sesterces alluded to the protection and the emperor’s ability to secure the empire’s future, as he was blessed and guided by divine mandate. Note:

➤ on the obverse: Laureate, bearded portrait of Pertinax facing right. Legend: IMP CAES P HELV PERTINAX AVG (Emperor, Caesar, Publius Helvius Pertinax, Augustus);

➤ on the reverse: draped Providencia goddess standing, profile to the left, around knee level the letters S C, while she holds with both hands at head height a large star, a symbol of divine guidance. Legend: PROVIDENTIAE DEORVM COS II S C ("To the providence of the gods").
This iconography gave confidence in cases of unclear successions and civil wars. It proclaimed that the new emperor was chosen by divine will.

And it was minted in the Rome mint in the year 193 AD.

Note that Publius Helvius Pertinax (126–193 AD), the son of a freedman who went into the cloth trade, was emperor for 87 days; he was sober, modest and had a sense of justice, and to protect his two sons he refused to grant them imperial titles, and the issue central to restoring the state’s solvency were the key pieces:

✦ auction off all of Commodus’s possessions and abolish excessive court privileges;

✦ reduce some taxes to spur consumption and private investment;

✦ grant unworked state lands to poor citizens with tax exemption for ten years.

Consequently, the tax reform stimulated the empire’s economy, but not enough to fulfill the main promise of 12,000 sesterces (± 18,354 USD) per soldier that triggered the emperor’s fall by 300 soldiers on 28 March 193 AD.

“…he was made emperor against the will of the soldiers, who, used to living licentiously under Commodus, could not endure the modest life to which Pertinax wanted to reduce them.”

Machiavelli.

Think that this is nearly 2000 years of coinage; due to its scarcity, it gains value with the passage of time, in a timeless design pendant, which makes you part of that historical period and naturally brings people to you, starting conversations that would be difficult with modern jewelry.

Disclaimer: I’m sending this item to you from Spain by certified mail. If you receive it in an area with a special tax regime, your local customs may hold it until you pay a duty, and that is beyond my control.