Very Rare Balkan As

210, Lot: 246. Estimate $200. Sold for $230. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Nero. AD 54-68. Æ As (25mm, 7.51 g, 7h). Balkan mint (Perinthus?). Struck circa AD 64-66. Laureate head right / Eagle standing facing, head right, on globe; [S]-C flanking. MacDowall, “Two Roman Countermarks of AD 68”, NC 1960, p. 108, III; RIC I (old edition) 439; RIC I (new edition) -, but see discussion on pp. 186-7; RPC I 1762. Near VF, black patina, slightly off center. Very rare, with the majority of known specimens housed in museums.

This reverse type is derived from the Divus Augustus Pater series. Other ases from this mint adopt the Neptune type struck in the name of Agrippa under Caligula (see previous lot).