Watch List notes:

The Roman Empire
Nero augustus, 54 – 68

Aureus October-December 54, AV 7.55 g. AGRIPP AVG DIVI CLAVD NERONIS CAES MATER Confronted busts of Nero, bare-headed r., and Agrippina II, draped l. Rev. NERONI CLAVD DIVI F CAES AVG GERM IMP TR P around oak wreath, enclosing EX S C. C 6. BMC 6. RIC 1. CBN 5. Calicó 399.
Very rare and among the finest specimens known. Two marvellous portraits
well struck in high relief. Good extremely fine


Ex NAC sale 31, 2005, 27.

I was on the telephone with Steve Rubinger when this lot bid. I can still remember the number of "congratulations" (which I could hear over the phone) he received after we were successful with this bid. This is a really tough coin in this condition and, with the preceding lot, is likely a rare survivor from an issue Nero would probably have recalled after disposing of his mother. One of the tougher coins in the set and as good as it gets. Worthy of the finest collection! MSG.

Since early in his reign, Nero paid heed to the input of his mother, his praetorian prefect Burrus and his famous tutor the younger Seneca, making his reign a breath of fresh air. Indeed, the first three months of his reign must have seemed a great relief from the oppressions the senatorial class suffered under Claudius. Nero's first coinage was mindful of his direct family: the deified Claudius is honoured, as is his mother Agrippina Junior, who initially had regency over him. Indeed, on his first mother-son coinage, Nero's inscription is not only relegated to the reverse, but it is presented in the dedicatory dative because it applied to the wreath which comprises the design. This would seem an unfavourable comparison to his mother's inscription, which not only is on the obverse, but is in the usual nominative case, indicating that it actually was an issue of hers. However, with the succeeding jugate-bust issue of 55, Nero is clearly staking his independence as the inscriptions are reversed (Nero's is on the obverse, this time in the usual nominative, and his mother's is on the reverse). It may seem a minor change, but the Roman nobility would not have overlooked it. Inscriptions aside, the reason for the abrupt bust change from confronted to jugate may never be known. Since Nero holds the position of honor in both arrangements, there is no significance on that level. However, one might speculate that since mother and son appear ready to kiss on the confronted busts coins (rumours were rampant of Agrippina's seductive hold over her teenage son), the change might have occurred to prevent jokes at their expense.