Lot 4670

Description

Nero, (A.D. 54-68), AE sestertius, issued c.64, Rome mint, (22.78 g), obv. laureate head to right of Nero, around NERO CLAVD CAES AVG G ER P M TR P IMP PP, rev. Arch with quadriga above, Mars standing in left niche, S C across field, (cf.S.1962, cf.RIC 143, cf.BMC 183). Carefully tooled, otherwise good very fine, with attractive light brown patina and rare.

Ex Brian Bolton Collection and previously Noble Numismatics Sale 88, lot 3521 with tickets.

This piece has an unpublished obverse reading and may be the result of tooling. The coin has a superb reverse revealing all its detail. The Arch has been identified as that decreed by the Senate in A.D. 58 (Tacitus Annals xiii, 41) to commemorate the eastern victories of Cn. Domitius Corbulo. It was located on the Capitoline Hill but its exact site is uncertain, the structure probably having been demolished following Nero's downfall a decade later.