Sale: CNG 70, Lot: 638. Estimate $200.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 21 September 2005.  Sold For $270. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

[Roman Provincial] CILICIA, Anazarbus. Nero. 54-68 AD. Æ 27mm (4.34 g, 12h). Dated CY 86 (67/8 AD). Laureate head right; c/m: radiate head right in oval / Boule seated left, dropping pellet into voting urn. For coin: RPC I 4063; Ziegler 51 (V2/R2); SNG Levante 1368; SNG France -; for c/m: Howgego 102 corr. (radiate). Good VF, dark green patina. Possibly the finest example of this coin and countermark known. ($200)

This high grade specimen clarifies points of contention between Ziegler and RPC. RPC dismisses Ziegler's identification of the seated figure on the reverse as Boule (personification of the city council) because "the figure's hand appears to be empty". This coin clearly shows the tessera in the hand of Boule as she prepares to drop it into the amphora at her feet. RPC identifies the countermark as Howgego 23 (bearded head of Zeus right) while Ziegler identifies it as Howgego 102 (male head right). This sharply struck countermark reveals a radiate head with the features of Nero. This depiction of Nero is most likely that of the Colossus, a 120 foot tall bronze statue of Nero as Sol that was created by Zenodorus for the vestibule of the Domus Aurea, or Golden House, a massive palace constructed by Nero after the fire of 64 AD. This is a common reverse type on imperial aurei and denarii (cf. RIC I 46-47 and lots 649 and 878 in this sale). The statue was destroyed after Nero's downfall in 68, but its memory was retained in the popular name of the amphitheater constructed by the Flavians at the same site-the Colosseum.