About this piece
back to topA set of 50 Grand Tour style patinated bronze medallions of Roman Emperors and their wives, typically seen on coins of the time.
A collection of this size is unusual and an exceptional find with each coin depicting the profile of a roman emperor with their name inscribed into the bronze.
This is the perfect set for a collector’s cabinet or to be framed and displayed as an intriguing decorative wall hanging full of Roman history.
The emperors and wives featured include: Clodius Albinus (193-197 CE), who was an imperial pretender between 193-197 during the ‘year of the five emperors’, Aulus Vitellius Germanicus (8 months in 69 AD) and his wife Petronia, and Balbinus, known for his brief and tumultuous three-month reign in 238 AD and his role as a patrician, poet, orator, and wise magistrate.
The name of Balbinus’ wife is unknown, but the couple are often depicted reclining together on the lid of a marble sarcophagus.
During 27 BC to 395 CE, there were periods when two emperors ruled the unified empire, one in the east and one in the west.
Lucius Verus (130–169 CE) also features in this collection; an emperor known for ruling alongside his adoptive brother Marcus Aurelius from 161 CE until his death.
After the empire divided in 395 CE, there were 88 emperors in the Eastern Roman Empire and 16 emperors in the Western Roman Empire, which lasted until 479 CE, when it fell with the end of Romulus Augustulus, also included in this set.
