A beautiful example gb29400. It was mentioned by Suetonius that
Otho wore a wig so carefully fashioned and fitted that no one suspected he was going bald. Yet to me
his images on the imperial coinage always look like a
man who is wearing a wig, as your excellent coin
portrait shows.
I'm also struck by how calm and confident he appears on your coin, which I think must have been qualities in
his character that the die engraver has skillfully captured. I say this because you simply could not make it to the purple in 69 AD without a lot of self confidence, and the way he accepted
his fate at the end indicates a
man who could view circumstances with a calm realism.
Best regards,
Steve
