456, Lot: 347. Estimate $150. Sold for $650. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Nero. AD 54-68. AE As (23mm, 7.94 g, 7h). Rome mint. Struck circa AD 64. Radiate head right / Apollo Citharoedus advancing right, playing lyre; I in exergue. RIC I 211; WCN 272. Brown patina, some roughness, light smoothing on reverse. VF.

Ex Spink Numismatic Circular XCIX.10 (December 1991), no. 7915.

Nero felt his musical talents were a wonder to behold and so shared them with everyone he could force to listen. He won prizes at every competition at which he performed while touring Greece, and upon his return to Italy he led a procession to the capital where he was cheered by the incredulous spectators along the way. He caused to be set up many statues of himself playing the lyre along the route, and Suetonius even mentions coins carrying the same device.