CNG 90, Lot: 1522. Estimate $2000. Sold for $2750. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Nerva. AD 96-98. Æ Sestertius (34mm, 27.58 g, 12h). Rome mint. Struck AD 97. Laureate head right / Clasped hands; behind, aquila set on prow. RIC II 80; Banti 7. Good VF, mottled red-brown and gray patina, traces of deposits.

The inherent weakness of Nerva's regime lay in his lack of appeal to the military who felt aggrieved by the court assassination of the tyrant Domitian who had shown them considerable indulgence. In consequence, much of Nerva's coinage is devoted to the theme of military loyalty. This handsome sestertius shows the clasped hands of unity holding a legionary aquila set on a prow, the latter symbolizing the imperial navy. Nerva, formerly a lawyer, cleverly defused the potentially calamitous situation by adopting as his heir the popular general Trajan who succeeded him in January AD 98.