Catalog
Unknown Æ - Imitating Nero, 54-68
| Issuer | Uncertain Germanic tribes |
|---|---|
| Year | 150-250 |
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| Currency | Aureus (circa 150-325) |
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| Obverse description | Bare-headed effigy of Nero facing right, rendered in a somewhat barbarous style characteristic of Germanic imitative coinage. The portrait displays a laureate or bare head with simplified facial features, the neck truncation visible at the bottom. A degraded Latin legend surrounds the bust in the field, partially legible and imitating the titulature of the Roman emperor Nero. The engraving reflects a provincial hand copying Roman prototypes, with irregular letter forms and uneven spacing typical of non-official imitative issues. |
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| Obverse lettering | NIRDOVARAVIANI[...]SSIN (Translation: [Nero Caesar Augustus Imperator] [Nero Caesar, August and Emperor]) |
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| Additional information |
Germanic imitations of Roman Æ coinage were not attempts at counterfeiting in any modern sense — Roman bronzes circulated freely across the Rhine frontier, and local copies filled gaps where supply from imperial mints fell short. Nero's bronzes were among the most widely copied, likely because of their broad circulation in the northwestern provinces during and after his reign. The blundered legends and abstracted portraiture typical of these pieces reflect craftsmen working from worn or secondhand exemplars rather than official dies.