Extremely rare AE of Nero with the bust of Octavia on the reverse.
There is not a single listing of this item on the Coinarchives, it is also missing in such great collections as: BMC, SNG Copenhagen, Lindgren, Hunterian Coll. and many others. In the SNG von Aulock catalog, at number 235, there is a piece in a much worse condition without fully invisible inscriptions.
The coin is dated 103 (CIII) year from the founding of the Roman colony in Sinope, i.e. 58 AD.
Roman Provincial
Nero (54-68), AE 58, Rome Mint
Obverse: head of the young 21-year old Nero facing right, around his Latin title and date
NERO CLAVD CAES AVG AN CIII
Reverse: bust of Octavia, Nero's first wife, daughter of Claudius and Messalina, facing right
OCTAVIAE AVG C AND F
Weight 6.4 g
Nero is certainly one of the most famous emperors, thanks to Tacitus and Suetonius, but also one of the most despised. He is the last representative of the Julio-Claudian dynasty. After the murder of Claudius by Agrippina with locusts in 54 AD, at the age of 17, he began his reign under good auspices. With the help of Seneca, his teacher, and Burrus, the Praetorian prefect, he intelligently ruled the Senate. Ultimately, however, he turned out to be a tyrant, and the last nine years of reign destabilized the Empire.
