As - Nero PONTIF MAX TR POT IMP P P S C

Nero's aes coinage of this period reflects a deliberate reform undertaken around 64 AD, when he reduced the weight standard of the as and adjusted the broader bronze series — a move tied to the fiscal pressures following the Great Fire of Rome and the enormous expenditure on the Domus Aurea. The SC on the reverse signals senatorial authority over base-metal coinage, a constitutional fiction that had been maintained since Augustus, though by Nero's reign it carried little practical meaning.

The Lugdunum and Rome mints both struck asses in this period; distinguishing them can depend on subtle die and fabric differences not always resolved by RIC alone.