NERO SILVER DENARIUS – YOUTHFUL PORTRAIT ISSUE WITH CORONA CIVICA REVERSE – CHOICE XF STAR NGC GRADED ROMAN IMPERIAL COIN OF THE 12 CAESARS (Inv. 18988)

18988. ROMAN EMPIRE. NERO, AD 54–68.

Silver Denarius, 3.57 g, 18 mm. Issue of Lugdunum (Lyon, France), AD 58–59.

Obv. NERO CAESAR AVG IMP, youthful head of Nero right. Rev. PONTIF MAX TR P V P P, EX S C within oak wreath (corona civica).

RIC I rev 17 (R2).

NGC graded CHOICE XF STAR, Strike 4/5, Surface 4/5, lustrous, with a great portrait of the young emperor.

On this coin the young Nero casts himself as a new Augustus, by adopting a famous Augustan coin type showing the corona civica, an oak wreath awarded by the Senate in 27 BC. Under the Roman Republic, this oak wreath was awarded for saving the life of a citizen in war, but it was presented to Augustus for saving all Roman citizens from civil war by defeating Mark Antony and assuming sole power.

Nero succeeded his stepfather Claudius in AD 54, probably with a little help from his mother Agrippina and a bowl of poisoned mushrooms. The early years of his reign are generally thought to have gone well thanks to the domineering influence of Agrippina, but after Nero finally succeeded in having her murdered, he indulged his artistic passions and love of chariot racing, both of which earned him the contempt of the Senate. He notoriously gave lyrical recitals at which it was dangerous for audience members to fall asleep and when Rome suffered the devastating fire of AD 64 he is said to have taken the opportunity to perform the Ilioupersis (“Sack of Troy”). Nero also made himself onerous by claiming much of the land in Rome cleared by the fire for the building of an opulent new palace, the Domus Aurea. At last, his reign began to fall apart as the Jewish War (AD 66-70) erupted in Judaea and C. Julius Vindex, the governor of Gallia Lugdunensis raised his legions in revolt against the emperor in AD 68. At last, Nero gave up hope and committed suicide, remarking, “What an artist dies in me!” His demise ushered in the bloody Year of the Four Emperors (AD 69).