Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
Aureus - Nerva LIBERTAS PVBLICA, Libertas
| Issuer | Roman Empire (27 BC - 395 AD) |
|---|---|
| Year | 97 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | 7.46 g |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The personification of Libertas depicted as a draped female figure standing left in a contrapposto pose. She extends her right hand forward holding a pileus (the felt cap symbolic of emancipation), while her left hand grasps a short transverse sceptre angled slightly upward to the right. The drapery falls in fine classical folds characteristic of Flavian and Nervan die-cutting. The reverse legend LIBERTAS PVBLICA is inscribed in the field around the figure within a beaded border, proclaiming the restoration of public liberty under Nerva's reign. |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | ND (97) |
| Additional information |
Nerva's reign lasted just 16 months, and his coinage reflects the pressure of a man who needed to legitimize himself fast. Elevated by the Senate following Domitian's assassination in 96 AD, Nerva had no military backing and no dynastic claim — the LIBERTAS PVBLICA types were deliberate political messaging, associating his rule with the restoration of senatorial freedoms that Domitian had systematically crushed. The Senate had declared damnatio memoriae on Domitian within hours of his death.
RIC II #31 is among the scarcer of Nerva's aureus types, consistent with his abbreviated reign and the relatively modest output of the Roman mint under his administration.