Galba Countermark on Nero As - Two 12 Caesars for the Price of One

I am pretty excited about this. A Nero as with a GALBA countermark (in Greek). This is my first Nero and my first Galba, two emperors I figured would forever remain out of my price range. Snagged it by bottom-feeding on eBay.

The countermark was applied to both official Rome issues and contemporary copies, and I am not entirely sure if mine is "official" or not - the style looks pretty good, the weight plausible for a Rome issue. But the host coin is very worn, so I was kind of guessing at attribution.

Here is what the Museum of Roman Countermarks says about this countermark:

"GALBA in Greek Letters (Martini Pangerl Collection 92). This countermark occurs also on Provincial coins and is Howgego as GIC 526. (These) coins are in the grey zone between official coins (so called Thrakian mint) and provincial coins of the Balkan region" (http://www.romancoins.info/CMK-galba.html)

I found several online examples - all of these Greek Galba's I've seen are applied over Nero's face. Ouch!

Any other Galba countermarks out there? Any feedback (or corrections) would be appreciated.






Nero / Galba Æ As
(63 A.D.; c/m 69 A.D.)
NERO CLAVDIVS CAESAR AVG GERMANICVS, laureate head right / [GENIO AVGVSTI],
Genius, naked to waist, standing half-left, holding cornucopiae, [altar left]. RIC 125
Countermark: ΓAΛBΛ (GALBA in Greek) Howgego GIC 526
(9.77 grams / 27 mm)

 

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Very interesting @Marsyas Mike

 

I love c/m coins and that is a pretty cool one. Congrats!

 

super

 

Very interesting countermark.

Why did they apply it over Neros face?

Is that an editorial comment?

John

 

An interesting coin. Congrats on adding this to your collection.

 

Thank you all for your nice comments. I've really been enjoying the background research on this one.

Richard Baker has some information on why Galba (and Vindex) countermarks tended to deface Nero's face, while Otho, Vitellius and Vespasian tended not to:

From: "THE COUNTERMARKS FOUND ON ANCIENT ROMAN COINS: A BRIEF INTRODUCTION
Richard Baker

It is worth noting here that only upon the coins countermarked by the followers of Vindex or Galba did they strike upon the features of Nero deliberately to deface his portrait. This was because both Vindex and Galba were in revolt against Nero, whereas when Otho, Vitellius and Vespasian revolted, Nero was already dead. Ostensibly these last three named were not in revolt against Nero, only against his hated "usurpers" of power. By pairing their monograms next to the still visible portrait of Nero they were in effect trying to create that "visual" link with the legitimate, but now extinct, Julio/Claudian dynasty."

http://www.accla.org/actaaccla/baker2.html

 

A quite reasonable assumption. Vespasian's moneyers took great pains to enhance the legitimate status of the Flavian dynasty through recoining and copying past types struck by the previous dynasty. Carefully placing a c/m next to Nero's portrait is quite in keeping with that programme.

 

Coool COMBO!
GALBA WINS!!!

 

Otho begs to differ

 

...pero eso fue en otro combate, amigo mío...

 

In a different thread started by @Orfew, we have been showing off some interesting mules. Here's a unique mule of Nero with a Galba countermark.


Nero & Statilia Messalina, Æ27 as, Galba ctmk., 10.54g Nicaea, Bythinia,
O: NERWN K[LAU]DIOS KAISAR SEBASTOS GE, laureate head left, rectangular countermark GALB[A].
R: ME[SSALEIN]A [GYNE SEBASTOY] Statilia Messalina as Securitas seated right.
Unique mule - Obverse die RPC 2057, Reverse die RPC 2061; Listed in Wildwinds as RPC 2061cf, countermark Howgego 591

Statilia Messalina was the third and last wife of Nero, empress from 66-68. Her great beauty and intelligence kept her alive during some of the most turbulent years of the early empire.

After several failed attempts to strangle his first wife, Claudia Octavia, to death, Nero divorced her for barrenness and she was forced into suicide. Nero kicked his second wife, Poppaea Sabina who was pregnant at the time, to death. Going into a deep depression (Women, can't live with them, can't live without them!) he found comfort in his new bride, Statilia Messalina. All it took was the forced suicide of her husband and Nero was able to have her all to himself.

She must have been a most clever woman as she survived the revolution and civil war that followed, even being betrothed to Otho before he too met an untimely end. Suetonius reports that of the two letters Otho wrote the night before he committed suicide, one of them was to Statilia.

 

Neat coin