41-54 AD AV aureus Claudius I with Agrippina Junior NGC Choice XF 4/5 - 2/5

Rome, AD 50-54. TI•CLAVD•CAESAR•AVG•GERM•P•M•TRIB•POT•P•P•, laureate head of Claudius I right / AGRIPPINA-AVGVSTAE, draped bust of Agrippina Junior right, seen from the front, hair in long queue and laureate wreathed in grain ears. RIC I 80. Calicó 396b. Two exceptionally attractive portraits. Areas of light orange toning. Rare this nice $15,250

From the Monaco Collection. Ex collection of Professor David R. Beatty, C.M., O.B.E. (Triton XXIV, 19 January 2021), lot 1043; Numismatica Ars Classica, Auction 54 (24 March 2010), lot 339; Numismatica Ars Classica, Auction 46 (2 April 2008), lot 506

As emperor, Claudius proved to be a dutiful and competent administrator, but he was undone by his atrocious taste in women. Messalina, his promiscuous third wife, ran wild as empress and nearly brought down his regime in AD 48. His next wife, Agrippina the Younger, used her wiles to enhance her own power and advance Nero, her son by a previous marriage, in the succession arrangements. This done, she fed Claudius a dish of poisoned mushrooms in October, AD 54, and brought his 13-year reign to an end. Agrippina was given extraordinary prominence on the coinage during Claudius' reign, as evidenced by this aureus.