Aureus - Nero and Agrippina the Younger NERONI CLAVD DIVI F CAES AVG GERM IMP TR P

This aureus belongs to the very opening of Nero's reign, when Agrippina the Younger was at the height of her political dominance over her son. The joint facing busts arrangement on this type is without precedent in Roman imperial coinage — a mother's portrait given equal or arguably superior prominence to the reigning emperor's. It lasted barely a year before Nero moved to marginalize her, and the coin type was discontinued accordingly.

Agrippina was murdered on Nero's orders in 59 AD. These early aurei effectively document the precise window of her power before it collapsed entirely.