Sale: Triton IX, Lot: 1397. Estimate $3000.  Closing Date: Monday, 9 January 2006.  Sold For $3750. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

NERO. 54-68 AD. Æ Sestertius (27.76 g, 6h). Lugdunum (Lyon) mint. Struck circa 65 AD. NERO CLAVD CAESAR AVG GER P M TR P IMP P P, laureate head left, globe at point of bust (early form) / Triumphal arch surmounted by statue of emperor in quadriga accompanied by Pax and Victory; two soldiers (torch bearers?) flanking quadriga, statue of Mars in side niche of arch, otherwise decorated with panels of battle scenes. RIC I 392; Lyon 70; WCN 410; BMCRE -; BN 77; Cohen 307. Good VF, dark green, red, and brown patina, a few minor pits, light smoothing in fields. ($3000)

This monumental triumphal arch was erected by Nero to commemorate Roman military campaigns against the Parthians in Mesopotamia and Armenia. Although not particularly successful in a military sense, with Paetus losing almost his entire army at Randeia in Armenia, the war did end with a peace treaty favorable to Rome that was upheld for nearly fifty years. This coin type is vitally important for architectural historians, for the arch was dismantled after Nero's ignominious end in 68 AD, and is only known through its depiction on the coins.