NERO GOLD AUREUS – VIRTUS ISSUE OF AD 61-62 EX SALTON COLLECTION AND ALMOST CERTAINLY FROM THE BOSCOREALE HOARD – XF BOSCOREALE TONE NGC GRADED ROMAN IMPERIAL COIN OF THE 12 CAESARS (Inv. 18294)

SOLD

ROMAN EMPIRE. NERO, AD 54-68.
Gold aureus, 7.73 g, 18 mm. Issue of Rome, AD 61-62.
Obv. NERO CAESAR AVG IMP, head right. Rev. PONTIF MAX TR-P VII COS IIII P P, Virtus standing left, right foot on helmet within pile of arms, holding parazonium and spear, EX-S C in fields.
RICI rev, 36; Calicó, 435; Adda, -.
Ex Salton Collection, likely acquired in the 1950s-1960s when Mr. Salton owned a numismatic firm in New York.
NGC graded XF, Strike 5/5, Surface 2/5, “marks” and “‘Boscoreale’ tone” noted; the coin features the reddish patination with dark encrustation specks characteristic of the coins from the Boscoreale Hoard, found in 1895 in a villa buried by the AD 79 eruption of Vesuvius that also buried Pompeii: see the relevant section in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boscoreale_Treasure. Although a full record of the hoard’s contents does not exist, the coin’s distinctive appearance makes it virtually certain that it was part of that find.

Published: Vilmar Fixed Price List IV, no. 112.