Galba's reign lasted just seven months, from June 68 to January 69 AD, ending when the Praetorian Guard murdered him in the Forum Romanum and paraded his head through the streets. His bronzes were struck at Rome under conditions of acute political instability — the Year of the Four Emperors had already begun, and the mint was producing coinage for a man whose authority was never fully secure outside the western provinces. RIC I 508 is among the commoner Galban aes issues, yet surviving examples in any meaningful grade are scarce relative to the brevity of output.
Galba's reign lasted just seven months, from June 68 to January 69 AD, ending when the Praetorian Guard murdered him in the Forum Romanum and paraded his head through the streets. His bronzes were struck at Rome under conditions of acute political instability — the Year of the Four Emperors had already begun, and the mint was producing coinage for a man whose authority was never fully secure outside the western provinces. RIC I 508 is among the commoner Galban aes issues, yet surviving examples in any meaningful grade are scarce relative to the brevity of output.