Sale: CNG 75, Lot: 1001. Estimate $3000.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 23 May 2007.  Sold For $3000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Nero. As Caesar, AD 50-54. Æ Sestertius (26.21 g, 7h). Uncertain Thracian mint. Struck under Claudius, AD 51. Bare-headed and draped bust right / Inscribed shield; vertical spear behind. RIC I 108; von Kaenel, Thrakien, Type A, N4. VF, red-brown and green patina, smoothed and lightly tooled.

Latin coins (sestertii and dupondii) in the name of Britannicus, Agrippina Jr., and the young Nero have been found localized in the Balkan region, and were most likely struck at a local mint servicing the legions guarding the border. Only four sestertii of Nero as Caesar were known to von Kaenel: one in the Berlin Museum, one in the British Museum, one in the Bibliothèque National and a fourth that appeared in Sternberg 12 (18-19 November 1982, lot 543). The missing S C is consistent with a provincial coinage not issued under the nominal authority of the Roman Senate. RPC I suggested Perinthus as a possible mint, "if any of them are genuine." Since that volume's publication, more examples from the Balkans have appeared on the market, all of which clearly appear genuine.