Nerva's fourth consulship in 98 AD was cut short by his death in late January of that year, making any issue carrying the COS IIII designation inherently scarce — the titulature was valid for only weeks before Trajan's accession rendered it obsolete. The quinarius denomination itself was rarely struck in the imperial period, produced in small quantities relative to the denarius and almost certainly intended for specific distributions or donatives rather than general commerce.
RIC II 46 is among the rarer Nerva types precisely because the reign lasted just fifteen months in total.
Nerva's fourth consulship in 98 AD was cut short by his death in late January of that year, making any issue carrying the COS IIII designation inherently scarce — the titulature was valid for only weeks before Trajan's accession rendered it obsolete. The quinarius denomination itself was rarely struck in the imperial period, produced in small quantities relative to the denarius and almost certainly intended for specific distributions or donatives rather than general commerce.
RIC II 46 is among the rarer Nerva types precisely because the reign lasted just fifteen months in total.