Nomos 37

Nero, 54-68. Aureus (Gold, 18.5 mm, 7.29 g, 6 h), Rome, 66-67. IMP NERO CAESAR AVGVSTVS Laureate head of Nero to right. Rev. IVPPITER CVSTOS Jupiter seated to left, holding thunderbolt in his right hand and long scepter with his left. BN 231-2. BMC 77. Calicó 413. CNR 70/7 (same dies). Cohen 120. RIC 63. Attractively toned red around the devices, as is typical of coins from Boscoreale. A very pleasing coin. Very minor marks, otherwise, good very fine.

From the Distinguished Collection, acquired in Germany during the late 1990s, and from the Boscoreale hoard of 1895.

Boscoreale (Royal Grove) was, in ancient times, a wealthy suburb of Pompei, and was the location of a remarkable find of ancient silver vessels and gold coins that was found in the remains of a Roman villa, the Villa della Pisanella, in the room used for grape pressing. The vessels were bought en bloc by Baron Edmond de Rothschild who donated them to the Louvre in 1896. The coins, roughly 1000 in number, were dispersed hither and yon.