Sale: Nomos 5, Lot: 234. Estimate CHF2500.  Closing Date: Monday, 24 October 2011.  Sold For CHF3000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Otho. AD 69. Denarius (Silver, 3.46 g 7), 9 March - mid April 69. IMP OTHO CAESAR AVG TR P Bare head of Otho to right. Rev. PONT MAX Ceres standing left, holding two ears of grain in her right hand and cornucopiae in her left. BMC 9. BN 25. Cohen 11. RIC -, but see the note to 20. Clear and bright. About extremely fine.

In one of the few mistakes in the RIC, the late C. H. V. Sutherland excluded the denarii of this type on the basis of a false example in the British Museum. While that piece is surely an old fake, a considerable number of perfectly genuine examples have long been known and are in numerous public and private collections.