Galba — Denarius Salvs Gen Hvmani — Certificate Of Authenticity

COIN AVAILABLE — PAYMENT TERMS ARE LISTED AT THE END OF THE DESCRIPTION.

The specimen presented belongs to the silver coinage of Galba, struck at Rome between the summer of AD 68 and early AD 69, a series renowned for the ideological intensity of its reverses. This type is among the most expressive, through the direct invocation of the Salus generis humani and the staging of a public ritual performed above a lighted altar.

Close examination with a ×10 loupe and raking light: reading of the relief shows a hammer-struck coin on a naturally irregular flan, with a beaded border well preserved in places, wear consistent on the high points, and fields marked by fine circulation traces, with no visible element suggesting—based solely on the observable surfaces—a cast manufacture rather than a struck one.

On the obverse, the laureate portrait of Galba, facing right, retains a crisp modelling at the forehead, eye, and nose, while the surrounding legend remains largely readable despite weak striking and flan losses at the edge—typical defects of ancient flans and visible here along the perimeter.

On the reverse, the scene is clearly structured: Salus standing left, right foot set on a globe, holding a rudder and performing a libation from a patera over a lighted and garlanded altar. The composition fully matches the recorded type, with satisfactory readability of the attributes (globe, rudder, altar), which remain the decisive iconographic markers of the reverse.

• Authority: Galba, AD 68–69

• Denomination / metal: Denarius, silver

• Date: circa July 68 – January 69

• Mint: Rome

• Weight / diameter: 3.26 g; 18 mm

• Obverse: IMP SER GALBA CAESAR AVG P M — Laureate head r.

• Reverse: SALVS GEN – HVMANI — Salus standing l., r. foot on globe, holding rudder and sacrificing from patera over lighted and garlanded altar to l.

• References: C 240. BMC 45. RIC 232. CBN 104.

Struck in the brief and decisive interval in which the Empire moved from Nero to the Year of the Four Emperors, this issue participates in a political language that seeks less to celebrate stability already secured than to proclaim it as an objective, placing at the heart of the monetary message Salus—not only the safety of the princeps, but the safety of the “human race,” a formula whose ideological resonance is well attested in numismatic literature and in interpretive traditions associated with the revolt against Nero.

This denarius holds particular collecting strength, as it combines an imperial portrait in the severe style typical of the “Galba moment” with a ritual reverse of great conceptual clarity, where the globe, rudder, and lighted altar form a visual grammar of government, direction of the world, and restoration of civic balance—offering both an object of study and a striking witness to monetary propaganda in a time of crisis.

Each specimen is examined, described, and accompanied by a certificate of authenticity consistent with the standards of the art and heritage market. Provenance is, within your established framework, European and sourced from an established numismatic dealer; the acquisition was carried out through a specialized international transaction within a recognized numismatic network and validated according to the most demanding practices of the sector.

In a spirit of rigor and collector protection, the assessment is based on verifiable elements visible in the photographs and on non-invasive examination (×10 loupe, raking light), with no destructive or metallurgical investigation implemented within the scope of this description.

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