Colossus of Nero

255, Lot: 296. Estimate $2000. Sold for $1900. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Nero. AD 54-68. AV Aureus (18mm, 7.13 g, 5h). Rome mint. Struck AD 64-65. Laureate head right / Nero radiate and togate standing facing, holding branch in right hand and Victory on a globe in left. RIC I 46; Calicó 402. Good Fine.

The reverse depicts Nero’s Colossus, a roughly 120 foot tall bronze statue of the emperor as Sol that was created by Zenodorus for the vestibule of the Domus Aurea, or Golden House, the massive palace constructed by Nero after the fire of AD 64. Its memory was retained in the popular name of the amphitheater that went up close to the collossus - the Colosseum.