Sale: Triton VII, Lot: 862. Estimate $1000.  Closing Date: Monday, 12 January 2004.  Sold For $1200. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

NERO. 54-68 AD. Æ Sestertius (26.79 gm). Lugdunum (Lyon) mint. Struck circa 65 AD. NERO CLAVD CAESAR AVG GER P M TR P IMP P P, laureate head right, globe at point of bust; countermark: X with bar above / DECVRSIO in exergue, S C across field, Nero on horseback right, holding spear; behind him rides a soldier carrying a vexillum. RIC I 436; WCN 418; BMCRE 312; BN 71 (with same countermark); Cohen 86; for countermark: D.W. MacDowall, "Two Roman Countermarks of AD 68," in NumChron 1960, 102-106, and Pl. VII, 1. VF, nice green patina with traces of brown, some smoothing in fields; countermark good VF. ($1000)

This countermark is known only on the coins of Nero minted at Lugdunum during the final four years of his reign, a fact confirmed by an upper Danubian origin for the majority of the recorded specimens. Unlike most countermarks, whose purpose was for re-tariffing, this countermark denotes that the coin was meant for the specific use of the Legio X Gemina, a pro-Flavian legion which had which was stationed in the region during the civil war in 69 AD and was instrumental in quelling the uprising of Civilis at the same time.