Watch List notes:

The Roman Empire
Galba, 68 – 69

Denarius, uncertain mint in Spain or North Africa, October 68 - January 69, AR 3.65 g. SER SVLPICIVS GALBA IMP AVG Bare head r.; below, S C. Rev. VIRTVS Virtus standing l. holding Victory in outstretched r. hand and sceptre in l. C –. BMC –. RIC –. CBN –, cf. 267 (for similar obverse type). Fitzwilliam Museum CM.196-2002. Lanz sale 149, 2010, 360 (this coin).
Of the highest rarity, apparently only four specimens known of this very interesting and
historically important issue. An unusual portrait and with a nice tone, good very fine

Ex Lanz sale 149, 2010, 360 and Nomos Fixed Price List Winter-Spring 2011, 92.

A very historical and interesting piece. MSG.

In the revolution of A.D. 68 three claimants in the Western provinces took up arms against the Emperor Nero. The uprisings of Vindex in Gaul and Clodius Macer in North Africa appear to have been sparked by the outrage felt by provincial subjects who had tired of Nero's callous disregard for their interests. Galba's revolt in Spain, however, is better characterised as an opportunistic act of a man who had enjoyed one of the most successful careers in Rome under the Julio-Claudians. Suetonius (Galba 4) records how as a child Galba visited Augustus, who pinched his cheek and said: "You too will taste a little of my power, child." His later success and his accumulation of great wealth is well-attested. He was among Livia's dearest friends, was nearly made emperor after the murder of Caligula, and he proved so valuable to Claudius that the invasion of Britain was postponed because Galba had suffered an unexpected illness. As successful as Clodius Macer must have been to have won his command in North Africa, he was no match for Galba. Once he had raised the standards of rebellion against Nero, Macer became an obstruction to Galba, the man who had been chosen by the senate to replace Nero. Suetonius (Galba 11) mentions Clodius Macer only in passing, noting that he had been in command in Africa, and characterising him as one of the men who had plotted against Galba. Tacitus puts the North African revolt in a shadowy context in two brief passages (I.6, I.11): "Macer, obviously bent on causing trouble in Africa, had been put to death by the imperial agent Trebonius Garutianus on the orders of Galba." ... "As for Africa and its legion, they had lived to see the execution of Clodius Macer and were content with any kind of emperor after experiencing a lesser master." Galba's denarii from North Africa are among the most fascinating of all Roman coins, for they combine the design content of Galba with the style and fabric of Macer's hastily organized mint in Carthage. In this case the obverse must have been modeled after Galba's Rome-mint denarii, for even through its charming, provincial style one can see a shadow of the best-style portrait denarii issued in Rome. Beyond the style of engraving, peculiarities of the Carthage mint can be observed in the inscription. It includes SVLPICIVS (absent from all of Galba's precious metal coinages of Rome), the titles IMP and AVG being curiously bundled at the end, and the abbreviation SC (senatus consulto) – a diagnostic feature of Carthaginian denarii – which appears beneath the truncation of Galba's neck. The reverse has no parallel at Rome, but is nearly identical to a common reverse type from a Spanish mint, perhaps Tarraco, except that the inscription on those pieces is to the left of Virtus rather than to the right.