Watch List notes:

The Roman Empire

Nero caesar, 50 – 54. Aureus October-December 54, AV 7.58 g. AGRIPP AVG DIVI CLAVD NERONIS CAES MATER Confronted busts of Nero, bare-headed r., and Agrippina Minor, 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. Two very appealing portraits struck in high relief, about extremely fine

Ex NAC 18, 2000, 447 and NAC 24, 2002, 33 sales.
Since early in his tenure, Nero paid heed to the input of his mother, his praetorian prefect Burrus and his famous tutor the younger Seneca, making his regime 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 (see the following lot), 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 it would not have been overlooked by the Roman nobility. 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.