Sale: Triton XI, Lot: 914. Estimate $2000.  Closing Date: Monday, 7 January 2008.  Sold For $3750. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Nerva. AD 96-98. AR Cistophorus (10.41 g, 7h). Uncertain Asia Minor (or Rome) mint. Struck AD 97. IMP NERVA CAES AVG • P M TR POT P P •, laureate head right / COS III across field, six stalks of grain tied into a bundle. RIC II 120; RSC 45; BMCRE 81; BN 63. EF, handsome toning, minor lamination on reverse. Bold portrait.

While no decisive evidence exists for the location of the mint of the cistophori during the reigns of Vespasian through Trajan, the style, legends, and, in particular, the consistent die axis point to Rome, suggesting that these coins were minted in the capital and then sent to Asia for local use.