From the Gemini IV Auction, Closed January 8, 2008.



                  Lot # 400 - Auction is closed.Estimate: US$12500 / Unsold: 
                  Available at opening bid of US$10000 + Buyers Fee 
                  Nero. Orichalcum sestertius 



             



            Nero. (54-68 AD). Orichalcum sestertius (24.05 gm). Rome, 64-65 AD. 
            NERO CLAVDIVS CAESAR AVG GER P M TR P IMP P P, bust laureate right, 
            aegis with Medusa head and snakes on front shoulder and behind neck 
            / PORT OST below, S AVGVST C above, two curved moles enclosing seven 
            ships in the harbor of Ostia, statue atop lighthouse above, Neptune 
            reclining below, man sacrificing at altar before temple at end of 
            left mole. BMCRE, p. 222, note * (Sydenham Collection). CBN 290 var. 
            Cohen 33 (20 Fr.) var. MacDowall, Nero, 105. Rare legend variant, 
            omitted from RIC, with S C above, flanking AVGVST, rather than 
            below, flanking PORT OST. Obverse struck in high relief. Excellent 
            glossy brown and green patina. Very fine/extremely fine. 

            The number of ships shown in the harbor in this type varies, but the 
            four most important ones, never omitted and showing four successive 
            stages in a ship’s use of the harbor, are the two left and right of 
            the lighthouse, one entering the harbor under full sail and the 
            other being rowed out of the harbor; the large ship in the center, 
            which has recently arrived and cast anchor and whose sails are being 
            taken in by three men on deck and in the rigging; and finally the 
            ship alongside the quay at eight o’clock whose cargo is being 
            unloaded by two men on deck and a third crossing the gangplank to 
            shore. Our coin adds three more ships to this basic number, located 
            at 3, 6, and 10 o’clock respectively; the one at 6 o’clock, just 
            below the large central ship, is small and not well struck up. 




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  ... Lot 400 was unsold.
 

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