Triton XIV, Lot: 692. Estimate $7500. Sold for $20000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Nerva. AD 96-98. AR Denarius (18mm, 3.30 g, 6h). Rome mint. Struck 19 September-31 December AD 96. IMP NERVA CAES AVG P M TR P COS II P P, laureate head right / LIBERTAS PVBLICA, Libertas standing left, holding pileus in right hand and cradling scepter in left arm. RIC II 7; RSC 106; BMCRE 17-8; BN 10. Superb EF, wonderful old collection toning. Exceptional portrait.

From the C.K. Collection. Ex John Whitney Walter Collection (Stack’s, 29 November 1990), lot 41; Numismatic Fine Arts XX (9 March 1988), lot 170.

An eminent lawyer, M. Cocceius Nerva became consul with Vespasian in AD 71 and with Domitian in AD 90. Upon the assassination of Domitian, Nerva was proclaimed emperor. Because Nerva had less that enthusiastic support from the army, he adopted the general Trajan, who was widely accepted by the army. Upon the death of Nerva on 25 January AD 98, Trajan naturally ascended to the throne. The reverse type Libertas Publica conveys the message that with the reign of Nerva the empire is now free from the tyranny of the previous ruler, Domitian.