Triton XVII, Lot: 656. Estimate $10000. Sold for $16000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Nero. AD 54-68. AV Aureus (19mm, 7.38 g, 6h). Rome mint. Struck circa AD 64-65. NERO CAESAR, laureate head right / AVGVSTVS GERMANICVS, Nero, radiate and togate, standing facing, holding branch in right hand, globe surmounted by Victory in left. RIC I 46; WCN 22; Calicó 402; Biaggi 221; BMCRE 56-9; BN 202-5. Near EF, warm cabinet tone. Lustrous.

Ex Auction Ceresio (Lugano, 26 September 1987), lot 229.

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 following the fire of AD 64. Its memory was retained in the popular name of the amphitheater that was built close to the Colossus – the Colosseum.