Just received this coin. I've been on the look for a nice imperial bust of Nero, I have a couple of tetradrachms but the busts are idealised. On my denarius it's worn, and a nice one is out of my budget, meanwhile even a corroded sestertius cost as much as a nice denarius! So the goldilocks seems to be his AS. I got it from a French ebay seller, who described it as 'joli portrait'. There seems to be some deposits on the reverse, which I'm gonna leave it for now. My two criteria were his name and bust should be clear. Obv: IMP NERO CAESAR AVG P MAX TR P PP. Nero, bare head right. Rev: SC left and right in the field. Victory, draped, flying to the left, holds a shield inscribed SPQR. 10.2g Please share your fat Neros
Exactly the same thought process. Recognisable portrait and his name visible were my only criteria for my one and only Nero. You and I seem to have chosen the same type of AS. Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, Roman Emperor of the Julio-Claudian Dyansty 54-68 AD AE As, Lugdunum mint. 66 AD. IMP NERO CAESAR AVG P MAX TR P PP, bare head right, globe at point of bust / S-C to left and right of Victory flying left, holding shield inscribed SPQR. RIC 543; BMC 381; WCN 593; Cohen 302 28.5mm, 10.01gr
Great coin JayAg47, especially the portrait. Nero although a fat pig had some of the most artistic coins of all the emperors.
Great architectural types, @Ancient Aussie !!! My favorites are my provincial Nero portraits (Thessaly X2, Lydia, Phrygia, Alexandria, maybe some others). I've already showed them recently, so I'll stick here to just my one favorite with his classical cylindrical head-neck topped with a radiate crown (from Thessaly)... It remains open to question whether that's actually him wrestling a bull on the back! (My other one from Thessaly shows him playing the lyre/kithara, so who knows...) Here's a rather unsatisfying As-Dupondius type -- but at least he's got the XXL jawneck: And a classic photo by Max Hirmer (from the little book by Franke-Hirmer, I forget if it's in their big one too, but in any case, this is the photo I photographed): My copy of the BOOK, NOT MY COIN:
I don't usually collect bronze but this sestertius was too tempting to pass. Most of the bronze coins appear to have been smoothed but I believe this congiarium type is quite scarce so I'm OK with that. What do the experts think?
To my old eyes, this coin has been tooled. However, it's a fine looking example and should be selling for a premium if I am wrong.
You are absolutely correct sir. But even examples with issues and in a lot worse condition are going for $$$$. This is still the best looking example I found so I'm not too concerned about it being tooled and smoothed
Glad you got your first Nero bronze, @JayAg47 . I agree with the seller, the portrait is quite 'joli'. I have added a few Neros to my collection over the years, including an As like yours which bears a VESPA countermark (presumed countermarked by troops loyal to Vespasian stationed along the Rhine in 69 A.D).
That's a decent example @JayAg47 That middle bronze I got last december. Not that I was Neroless (I already had a dupondius of his that I like very much), but the price made me think I couldn't pass (100 euros ~ 105 USD) 11.21 g. - 27.20 mm Q
