NERO SILVER DENARIUS – YOUTHFUL PORTRAIT ISSUE WITH CORONA CIVICA REVERSE – CHOICE XF NGC GRADED ROMAN IMPERIAL COIN OF THE 12 CAESARS (Inv. 19366)

$4,800.00

19366. ROMAN EMPIRE. NERO, AD 54–68.
Silver Denarius, 3.57 g, 19 mm. Issue of Lugdunum (Lyon), 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, Strike 4/5, Surface 3/5, “brushed,” lustrous, with areas of blue iridescence on the obverse and a well–realized portrait of the young emperor.

On this coin the young Nero adopts a famous Roman coin type showing the corona civica, an oak wreath awarded by the Senate in 27 BC to Augustus. 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. Here, Nero attempts to style himself a “new” Augustus by adopting his coin type.