NERO BRONZE MIRROR SESTERTIUS – COIN REMADE AS A POCKET MIRROR – ROMAN IMPERIAL COIN OF THE 12 CAESARS (Inv. 20307)

$2,750.00

20307. ROMAN EMPIRE. NERO, AD 54–68.
Bronze Sestertius modified for use as a mirror, 8.39 g, 32 mm. Issue of Rome, ca. AD 64–65.
Obv. NERO CLAVD CAESAR AVG GER P M TR P IMP P P, laureate bust of Nero right, wearing aegis. Rev. hollowed out and carefully carved with a decorative edge.
Ex NAC 72, 5/16/2013, lot 1513.
Good VF, green patina, of exceptional quality and workmanship.

Such objects have been known since the 17th century and appear in a variety of formats. They were first studied by Froehner in 1889 and more recently by Paul–André Besombes, “Les mirroirs de Néron” in RN 153 (1998), pp. 119–140. Sometimes they were made from actual coins, like this piece, and often had silvered inserts to produce an image. Besombes discusses the association of such mirrors with Nero, and how they would likely have been official gifts given to important individuals at events such as concerts, shows at the amphitheater, etc. Very often they appear either in tombs or from military contexts such as forts, suggesting that their recipients were officers or public servants who treasured these gifts.