Denarius - Nero PONTIF MAX TR P X COS IIII P P EX S C, Virtus

Nero's coinage of 63–64 AD falls in the period just before the Great Fire of Rome, when his principate still retained a veneer of Augustan traditionalism. The addition of EX S C — "by decree of the Senate" — on a silver imperial issue is genuinely unusual; it appears on select Neronian denarii as a calculated gesture toward senatorial legitimacy, possibly connected to the political maneuvering following the death of Burrus and the fall of Seneca's influence at court.

RIC I#41 is among the more discussed types in the series precisely because that EX S C formula had largely disappeared from precious metal coinage after Augustus.