Galba. AD 68-69. Æ Sestertius (36mm, 24.90 g, 6h). Rome mint. Struck circa November AD 68. Laureate head right / Libertas standing left, holding pileus and cradling vindicta. RIC I 436; ACG – (A131/P78). Even dark green patina, some pits and shallow scratches, mostly on reverse. Fine.
From the Summer Haven Collection.
Galba's coinage pairs his aged, scowling portrait with reverses touting traditional Roman virtues, here depicting Libertas, a concept that embodies both freedom and responsibility. According to A Dictionary of Ancient Roman Coins by John Melville Jones, the vindicta which Libertas carries was "the rod with which a slave was touched during the ceremony of manumission or liberation." The point being that Galba's accession freed all Romans from Nero's tyranny.