Gemini III, January 9th, 2007



                  Lot # 356 - Auction is closed.Estimate: US$7500 / Price 
                  Realized: US$8500 
                  Nerva. Orichalcum sestertius 



             



            Nerva. (96-98 AD). Orichalcum sestertius (24.36 gm). Rome, 97 AD. 
            IMP NERVA CAES AVG P M TR P COS III P P, laureate head right / FISCI 
            IVDAICI CALVMNIA SVBLATA S C, palm tree with twelve branches and two 
            bunches of dates. BMCRE 105. CBN 97. Cohen 57 (25 Fr.) RIC 82. Rare. 
            Tiber patina. Very fine. 

            The reverse type, with legend “The Abuse of the Jewish Tax 
            Eliminated,” commemorates Nerva’s correction of Domitian’s overly 
            rigorous collection of that tax: Domitian had gone so far as to have 
            men stripped in public in order to ascertain whether they were 
            circumcised and thus liable to the tax! The palm tree on the present 
            specimen is unusually bushy: The Paris specimen has only eight 
            branches, the BM specimen ten branches, and the three specimens in 
            the Berk photofile have, respectively, seven, eight, and nine 
            branches. 




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  ... Lot 356 sold for high bid of $8500 [ $9775, or approx 7556.075 EUR, 4985.25 GBP including the 15% buyers fee.] 


Re-used by permission of Harlan J Berk (www.harlanjberk.com) and
                         Freeman & Sear (www.freemanandsear.com)