Nero, AD 54-68 Rome Mint

Reverse has the temple of Janus with closed doors.

 

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This looks very well centered to me.

 

The Janus asses are among my favorite types of the first century. They exist in several variations but I lack the bust left. Below are asses with the common legend with VBIQue (everywhere) and the scarce on asses but regular on sestertii TERRA MARIQue (land and sea). Someone here has a really neat one with the temple engraved upside down with is a lot better than mine with the temple facing right or left. Similar coins exist in all denominations but asses are most common.

Ubique temple left


Terra Marique temple right

 

I have always liked the sestertii of Nero from the mint of Rome and I was fortunate enough to find this one. Nero Ae Sestertius Rome 65 AD Obv, Head right laureate Rv. Temple of Janus with closed double doors. RIC 267 25,47 grms 35 mm Photo by W. Hansen This issue is interesting in that while I believe the obverse on the sestertii from the mint of Rome are superior to those of Lugdunum. The image of Nero is more finely drawn and his features are more delicate and more skillfully rendered. However the reverses featuring the Temple of Janus minted at Lugdunum are on the whole more ornate, with many more details and thus more interesting.

 

Here is my Sestertius from the Rome mint:


NERO CLAVD CAESAR AVG GER P M TR P IMP P P - Laureate head right
PACE P R TERRA MARIQ PARTA IANVM CLVSIT - Temple with doors to the left
Sestertius, Rome 65 aD
32,42 mm / 22,85 gr
RIC - , BMCRE 158, Giard 371, Cayon 165

 

Talk about impulse buying: I was so captivated by the examples in this thread of the Nero/Temple of Janus types that I went ahead and ordered one myself last night. Obviously I haven't received it yet, and I don't ordinarily risk jinxing things by posting coins I don't yet have, but I might as well do so while the topic is current:

Nero, AE As, 65 AD Rome Mint. Obv. Laureate head right, NERO CAESAR • AVG • GERM IMP / Rev. Temple of Janus with closed double doors on right, garland hanging above doors, latticed windows and wall to left, PACE P R VBIQ PARTA IANVM CLVSIT, S|C across fields. RIC I Nero 306, BMCRE 227, Sear RCV I 1974 (ill.), Cohen 171. 27 mm., 9.61 g., 7 h.



I hesitated for a little while to buy it because "NERO" is off the flan, but I decided that his portrait is sufficiently recognizable that the absence of his name wasn't a deal-breaker for me. In fact, I really like the portrait. (Hopefully it's not tooled; it looks OK to me, not that I'm very experienced with evaluating these kinds of AE coins.)

But here's my question: what in the world is going on with the left side of the Temple? Instead of the bricks in the wall I see on other examples, it looks like someone shoved a few misshapen boulders in there!

 

@DonnaML I love the patina on that one!

 

Donna,

My response to three matters that you now seem to have deleted from your post:

I think the flaws on the rev. must be flan flaws that were there when the coin was struck, since they don't look like damage from clashed dies, which would be another possibility.

I don't see any tooling whatever on your coin.

Yes NERO is weak on the obv., but the O is clear, and remains of the NER can also be made out.

 

Thanks so much. I'm not sure why you think I deleted something -- it's all still there when I look at it!

 

Your paragraphs 3-4 had vanished for me 15 minutes ago, but are now again visible.

 

Not as much of a mystery as The Case of The Stolen Yale Coins, but a mystery nonetheless.

 

Nice examples.

Here's my rough sestertius, purchased at a small shop in Besançon in 1992.

Rome Mint.

This coin might be RIC 264.

23 grams



While it won't win any beauty contests, it does have sentimental value for me.

 

@DonnaML Nice to hear that you ordered one of these and hopefully you'll have it soon. I really liked this one and now it's mine.

 

There seem to be a shortage of dupondii, so to put that right.


Ex Roma 78.

 

Donna,

A 'Kraay overstrike' would also be a possibility. In that case the undertype would have to have been either Temple of Janus from another die, or Victory holding shield inscribed SPQR.

 

Thank you.

 

Here’s my green beauty. I seem to have quoted the estimable @dougsmit in my notes.

 

Here is one struck possibly at Perinthus and countermarked in a "damnatio" manner:

Nero. AD 54-68. Æ Sestertius (34mm, 23.94 gm, 1h). Uncertain Balkan mint, possibly Perinthus in Thrace. Struck circa 64 AD. Obv: Laureate head right; Countermarked ΓΑΛΒΑ at Perinthus to deface the tyrant Nero in a form of "damnatio.". This assertion is based on the observation that this writer has seen numerous GALBA countermarks on this type coin and in every single case, the countermark obliterates Nero's face....and not seen elsewhere on a coin. Rev: Triumphal arch with wreath hung between pillars surmounted by statuary group of Nero in quadriga, escorted by Victory and Pax and flanked by soldiers; statue of Mars in niche on left side of arch. RIC I –; RPC I, 1758 var.

Writes a major auction house: "Perinthus has been proposed as a possible mint for this rare issue of aes coinage with Latin legends. The style is quite distinct from the two western issues of Rome and Lugdunum, and there is nothing in common with the Latin issues of Antioch or Corinth. Provenance, when known, is almost always in the northwest Balkan area. In addition, the coins are frequently encountered countermarked with Galban stamps (GAL KAI and GALBA) used to countermark provincial Perinthus issues"

 

Two Nero sestertii of temple of Janus - one with door on right and one with door on left ...
both mint of Rome...