Claudius augustus, 41 – 54
Aureus circa 50-54, AV 18 mm, 7.62 g. TI CLAVD CAESAR AVG GERM P M TRIB POT P P Laureate head of Claudius r. Rev. [NERO CL]AVD CAES DRVSVS GERM PRINC IVVENT Bare-headed and draped bust of Nero l. C 4. BMC 79. RIC 82. von Kaenel 1071 (this coin). CBN 85 (Lugdunum). Calicó 391. Very rare and in unusually fine condition for this interesting issue. Two finely engraved portraits struck in high relief. Extremely fine

Ex Hirsch 29, 1910, 940 and M&M 93, 2003, 109 sales.

Graded AU Strike 4/5 Surface 3/5, brushed, NCG certification number 6827744-002

The closing years of the reign of Claudius are defined by the poor choices he made about his personal life, which had profound effects upon the state. Perhaps worst of all was his decision in 48 to marry his niece Agrippina Junior, a woman who possessed few virtues beyond a calculating intellect and blinding ambition. Along with Agrippina came her son from a former marriage, L. Domitius Ahenobarbus, who early in A.D. 50 was adopted by Claudius and took the name Nero. The likely explanation for this marriage is Claudius' inability to judge the character of women, though he may also have deemed it necessary to stabilise his regime. His fourth and final marriage, to Agrippina, occurred just months after he had ordered the execution of his third wife, Valeria Messalina. The new union was unorthodox, and required a change in the laws governing such affairs, which prohibited uncles from marrying their brothers' daughters. The domineering presence of Agrippina changed the complexion of Claudius' regime, as her top priority was the advancement of Nero, even above his biological son Britannicus. Upon seeing this aureus, no one could have doubted that Nero was destined to succeed Claudius. It likely was struck in 51, not long after Nero had been adopted by Claudius, and in the same year that he assumed the toga virilis, the 'toga of manhood' months before the proscribed age. Moreover, it shows the effectiveness of Agrippina, who two years later would secure the marriage of Nero to Claudius' elder daughter, Claudia Octavia, despite her longstanding betrothal to a distant cousin, Lucius Junius Silanus.