Watch List notes:

The Roman Empire
Nero augustus, 54 – 68

Sestertius, Lugdunum circa 66, Æ 25.42 g. IMP NERO CAESAR AVG PONT MAX TR POT P P Laureate head l. with globe at point of bust. Rev. CONG – I – DAT – POP Nero seated r. on platform, on l., before him an official seated r. on another platform handing congiarium to citizen standing with one foot on a flight of steps, with small boy behind him; in background on l., Minerva facing, holding owl and spear and further r., Liberalitas stands facing, holding up tessera. C 71 var. (head r.). BMC –, cf. 308 (head r.). RIC 503. CBN –.
Very rare and among the finest specimens known of this interesting issue.
An untouched and attractive green patina, reverse slightly off-centre,
otherwise extremely fine

Ex NAC 25, 2003, 391; Tkalec, 2006, 136 and NAC 52, 2009, 354 sales.

Among the most popular of all Roman reverse types are 'platform scenes' in which the emperor, Liberalitas, or a multitude of people and deities, address citizens or soldiers. Adlocutio issues – platform scenes where the emperor addresses the army – first occurred on Roman coins under Caligula, and were struck by Nero and subsequent emperors, such as Galba. Donation scenes such as this, in which the emperor and/or Liberalitas makes distributions to citizens, first occur under Nero. He struck sestertii with two distinctly different scenes, each being congiarium scenes in which a distribution is made to the public. Later, the donativum, in which gifts were made to the army, become popular. In the mid-2nd Century the donative scenes are identified as Liberalitas types rather than congiarium types. The precise event (or events) at which Nero made his donations are not securely known, though the first presumably occurred in 57. Confusion arises from their being numbered I and II, but not being segregated by the two types, by mint, or even by date of striking. Mattingly suggested the distinction I and II may indicate that one donation was of money, and the other of grain. This variant of Nero's congiarium scene was almost exactly copied by the later emperor Nerva.