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ASIA MINOR, Uncertain. Nero. As Caesar, AD 50-54. AR Cistophorus (26mm, 11.25 g, 6h). Ephesus(?) mint. Struck under Claudius, AD 51. Bareheaded and draped bust left / COS DES/ PRINC/ IVVENT in three lines on round shield; all within laurel wreath. RPC I 2225; RSC 82 corr. (didrachm, Caesarea); BMCRE 236 (Claudius); BN 307 (Pergamum). Light cabinet tone, slight roughness, banker’s mark on obverse. VF.
Ex Peter Corcoran Collection (Roma XXV, 22 September 2022), lot 664; New York Sale 54 (11 January 2022), lot 221; Classical Numismatic Group 57 (4 April 2001), lot 1088.
Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, later the Emperor Nero, was born on 15 December AD 37 in the Italian resort town of Antium (modern Anzio). His mother, Agrippina Minor, was the sister of Emperor Gaius ‘Caligula,’ while his father, Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus, was the son of Antonia Major, a niece of Augustus, so the infant Lucius was steeped in Julio-Claudian royalty on both sides. His father had a reputation for cruelty and debauchery; when told of Lucius’ birth, he is said to have joked that no offspring of himself and Agrippina could be a benefit to the Roman people. In AD 40 the family suffered twin calamities: the elder Ahenobarbus died of edema, while Agrippina was accused of treason and exiled to an island off the Italian coast. Young Lucius was sent to live with his paternal aunt, Domitia Lepidina. In January of AD 41, Caligula was assassinated and the new emperor, Agrippina’s uncle Claudius, rescinded her exile and allowed her and Lucius to return to Rome. Agrippina quickly married a wealthy ex-consul, Gaius Sallustius Crispus, who conveniently died a few years later and left his estate to his stepson. She was thus well positioned when Claudius’ wife Messalina was executed for treason in AD 48. On New Years Day of AD 49, Agrippina married her uncle and became Empress of Rome. She quickly took charge of the household and induced Claudius to adopt her son, renaming him Nero Claudius Caesar Drusus Germanicus and leapfrogging Claudius’ own son, Britannicus, in the succession hierarchy. Upon his 13th birthday, Nero was named Prince of Youth (PRINCEPS IVVENTVTIS), designated a future Consul (COS DES), and betrothed to Claudius’ daughter, Octavia. A large emission of coinage was struck to mark the occasion at Rome and select provincial mints, including this silver cistophorus mostly likely minted at Ephesus in AD 51. His youthful portrait on this handsome issue gives little evidence of his future proclivities for tyranny, decadence and corpulence, which as yet lay a decade in the future.
The final winners of all CNG Feature Auction 129 lots will be determined during the live online sale that will be held on 13-14 May 2025. This lot is in Session Two, which will begin 13 May at 2 PM ET.
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