193 AD., Clodius Albinus Caesar, Rome mint, Sestertius, RIC 50.

Clodius Albinus Caesar, Sestertius, Rome mint 193 AD
Æ Sestertius (30-31 mm / 21,29 g),
Obv.: D [C]LODIVS AL - BINVS CAES , bare head facing r.
Rev.: PROVID - AVG COS / S - C , Providentia standing l., holding wand over globe in her lowered right and leaning on sceptre with left.
RIC IV, part I, p. 51, no. 50 ; C 59

Decimus Clodius Septimius Albinus was born in Hadrumetum (modern Sousse in Tunisia) and came from a prominent senatorial family. He held high office under Marcus Aurelius and continued under Commodus, becoming consul in 187 and governor of Britain in 191. After the murder of Pertinax and the purchase of the Empire by Didius Julianus, Albinus, joined by his rivals Pescennius Niger and Septimius Severus, made preparations to march on Rome. Severus got there first and, in order to free himself for battle in the East, had Albinus proclaimed Caesar and made him his heir. Needless to say, after his defeat of Niger, Severus turned on Albinus and had him declared a public enemy in 195. Albinus was hailed emperor in Lugdunum in either late 195 or early 196, and spent the next year raising troops: Severus moved into Gaul with his army in 196 and in a huge battle outside Lugdunum on 19 February, defeated Albinus who then committed suicide.

Curtis Clay: "A rare coin, struck from a single obv. die and several rev. dies. Albinus' sestertii of 194-5 (COS II) are a whole lot commoner. On my new chronology discovered in my Oxford thesis, Albinus made himself Augustus c. Nov. 195 and was defeated by Septimius near Lugdunum on 19 Feb. 196, not 197 as all the books say!"