Quadrans S C

Under Nerva, the quadrans carried the legend S C — senatus consulto — marking senatorial authorization, though by this period the formula was largely ceremonial. More practically, Nerva used small bronze issues to reinforce his public image after the Senate's own senators had cheered Domitian's damnatio memoriae while privately dreading the instability his assassination caused in 96 AD. The quadrans circulated at the lowest rung of daily commerce: a single loaf of bread cost roughly two to four of them.

Nerva died in January 98, making this a short-reign type produced across fewer than sixteen months of rule.