I’m in the habit of revisiting my
gallery and re-editing my
collection. The
RIC II Nerva 2
denarius is one of my personal favourites because of the boldly and sharply struck laureate
bust of the elderly
Nerva. It’s beautifully
toned and the first of my Five
Good Emperors
collection. I’ve inserted the off-flan and illegible parts of the legends in square brackets. The first letters of “
Harmony” and “Army” have been capitalised to give some prominence to the close
alliance between the army, navy and emperor that the coin promotes. It helps that the two translated words coincidentally rhyme!
Nerva (18
Sep 96 - 25 Jan 98 AD), Silver
Denarius,
RIC II 2,
RSC II 16,
BMCRE III 6,
BnF III 3,
Hunter I 2,
SRCV II -,
gVF, boldly and sharply struck on
good metal, nicely
toned, minor marks,
obverse and
reverse slightly off-centre, some legends off-flan,
weight 2.98g, maximum
diameter 17.0mm,
die axis 210°,
Rome mint, 19
Sep -
Dec 96 AD;
obverse IMP N[ERVA
CAES AVG]
P M TR P COS II P P, laureate
head right;
reverse [CONCOR]DIA EXERCITVVM (
Harmony with the Army), clasped
hands.