NERO
AD 54-68
Contemporary Imitation Bi Tetradrachm. 12.37g, 24.3mm
MINTED: Copying EGYPT, Alexandria, RY 11 (AD 64/5)
REF: RPC 5283; Dattari-Savio Pl. 316, 43 (this coin); Metcalf, Two Alexandrian Hoards. 1. A Hoard of Forgeries from Luxor," (Revue Belge de Numismatique Vol. CXXII, 1976, pp. 65-69) Obv V/Rev 6
OBVERSE: ΝΕΡΩ ΚΛΛV ΚΛΙΣ ΣΕΒ ΓΕ retrograde from lower right, radiate bust right, wearing aegis.
REVERSE: AYTOKPA, Eagle standing left on thunderbolt, palm over far wing; in left field, LIA.
 
Notes:
Toned greenish-gray surfaces . Bold devices. A rare coin with an exceptional and interesting pedigree.   
Contemporary counterfeits of Roman provinicial coins of Alexandria are noted to be extremely rare, with Milne writing in 1933 that "there are scarcely any counterfeits or forgeries of Alexandrian coins in existence, other than those made in modern times."  Until recently, they had hardly ever been available on the market, and were known primarily from the discovery at Luxor, Egypt in 1908 of a remarkable hoard, made up entirely of contemporary counterfeits that were apparently the work of a single ancient forger.  This Luxor Hoard was acquired in 1908 by E.T. Newell, who was later the president of the American Numismatic Society.  Newell left a portion of the hoard to the ANS, with the rest being dispersed in trade.  This coin shares Obv die IV and Rev die 4 of the example of the type from William Metcalf's 1976 study of the ANS's Luxor Hoard coins, making it highly probable that Dattari, that period's most voracious collector of Alexandrian coins, managed to acquire it from the sale of what Newell did not keep from the hoard.   
 
Provenance:
Ex Giovanni Dattari Collection; probably from the Luxor Hoard of 1908
Giovanni Dattari (1853-1923) was a well-known numismatist and antiquities dealer who lived in Cairo between the 1890s and his death in 1923.  For decades, he monopolized the trade in Egypt of Roman provincial coins of Alexandria, selling tens of thousands of Alexandrian coins to museums and collectors.  He once even claimed that two-thirds of all the coins in Egypt passed through his hands.  In addition to being a collector and a dealer, Dattari was also a scholar, and the catalog of his vast collection of Alexandrian coins that he published in 1901 remains one of the standard reference works for the series.  Dattari, however, did not only collect Roman Provincial coins, and writing in 1903, he noted that his collection not only included 6,835 Alexandrian coins, but also 19,320 Roman (Imperial) coins, 91 Archaic Greek coins, and 230 coins of Alexander the Great.  By the time of his death, the size of his Alexandrian collection alone had more than doubled to over 13,000 coins.  Today, coins from Dattari's famous collection can be found in the coin cabinets of numerous museums and public institutions, as well as the private collections of ancient coin collectors all over the world.
 
Historical Notes:
Egypt supplied as much as half of Rome’s annual grain supply, and was as such a hugely important province. Its economic and cultural heart was Alexandria, the second largest city in the Empire with a population of more than half a million during the time of Augustus. The coins of Roman Egypt were heavily used in daily commerce, and most often found in extremely worn condition. They are nevertheless highly collectible and interesting, sometimes featuring unique Egyptian-themed reverses and deities.