Trajan — Silver Quinarius With Victory — Certificate Of Authenticity

A particularly attractive Roman collectible for the Trajan enthusiast, as it brings together—within the quinarius format, encountered noticeably less often than the denarius—an early-reign titulature and a Victory reverse of immediately legible classicism; the whole fits, with typological solidity that can be verified, within the RIC 44 / RSC 226 corpus, as documented by specialized market and cataloguing concordances.

Careful observation under ×10 magnification and raking light: the examination highlights a coherent Roman-style strike, a portrait relief clearly structured by the laurel wreath and the modeling of the face, as well as a reverse on which Victory’s silhouette, despite circulation wear visible on the high points, remains intelligible through its fundamental attributes—namely the wreath and the palm—fully in accordance with the published type.

Authority: Trajan (AD 98–117).

Mint: Rome.

Denomination / metal: Quinarius, silver (AR).

Diameter / weight: 14 mm; 1.43 g.

Obverse (reading and type): laureate bust right, with legend IMP CAES NERVA TRAIAN AVG GERM, whose construction and titulature match the standard reference wording for this type.

Reverse (reading and type): P M TR P COS III P P, with Victory advancing right, holding a wreath and a palm, iconography and legend consistent with the RIC 44 type as commonly cited.

Condition (visual and surface observations): medium-to-dark grey toning, with regular wear on the highest relief; centering generally satisfactory on the obverse where the portrait remains particularly clear, while the reverse, more “circulated,” nonetheless retains the key elements (wing, crowning gesture, palm) and shows along the periphery a few flan irregularities compatible with a tight ancient module, without the whole detracting from identification or collecting appeal.

The presence of GERM in the titulature, together with the choice of a Victory reverse—a theme encountered with remarkable consistency on Trajan’s quinarii—places this type within the ideological horizon of a reign opening under the sign of consolidation, military legitimacy, and public virtue; Victory is not merely decorative, but a political language, cut to be understood at a glance by citizen and soldier alike.

For the collector, this quinarius offers a rare “density”: that of a small silver module which, while remaining elegantly compact, carries a universal iconography of triumph and an imperial titulature of immediate historical resonance, bringing into a collection not only a “natural” Rome-mint portrait of Trajan, but also an image of Victory as a symbolic matrix of the Principate at its height.

The provenance is European, from an established numismatic dealer; the acquisition was made through a specialized international transaction, conducted within a recognized numismatic network and validated in accordance with the practices of the art and heritage market.
Each specimen is examined, described, and accompanied by a certificate of authenticity consistent with the standards of the art and heritage market, the attribution being established by concordance with the RIC 44 / RSC 226 references and with published numismatic sale comparanda.