Nero. Gold Aureus (6.14 g), AD 54-68. Rome, ca. AD 64/5. NERO CAESAR AVGVSTVS, laureate head of Nero right. Reverse: IVPPITER CVSTOS, Jupiter seated left, holding thunderbolt and scepter. RIC 52; BN 218; BMC 67; Calicó 412. Well struck, nicely centered with magnificent detail. Toned. NGC grade XF; Strike: 5/5, Surface: 2/5. Estimate Value $7,000 - 8,000
The reverse type of this aureus invokes the protection (CVSTOS) of Jupiter, the king of the gods, who saved the emperor by allowing the exposure of the Pisonian Conspiracy in AD 65. Nero's excesses had alienated a significant core of Rome's elite, leading to the conspiracy under the influential Senator, Gaius Calpurnius Piso, and which even included members of his inner circle, such as the elder Seneca, his former tutor then living in retirement.