ROMAN EMPIRE , ROME Emperor Balbin (238), rare sesterce, bronze, 238 BC: Laurelled, draped and cuirassed bust of Balbin right. Rv : Providence standing facing left, holding a cornucopia in the left hand and a staff above a globe in the right hand. Pb: 3.56 gr - BMC Byz 31 TTB to SUP Note: This rare sesterce represents an emperor who reigned for only 4 months. Initially elected by the senate to unseat the unpopular Maximin the Thracian, he was defeated by the Praetorian Guard on 29 July 238. He was succeeded by Gordian III, nephew of Gordian II, himself one of the instigators of the rebellion in Proconsular Africa against Maximin. Balbin's sarcophagus is one of the few surviving imperial sarcophagi.