Coin of Introduction
Description
The Coin of Introduction is exactly what it appears to be a brass sestertius minted during the reign of Nero. Such brass coins were a significant part of the Roman currency system, primarily made from a type of brass known as orichalcum, which had a gold-like appearance when newly struck. The sestertius was the most prominent brass denomination during the Roman Empire and was highly valued until its ultimate debasement in the late third century AD.
Most such coins were minted and marked in either Rome or supplemented by the mint of Lugdunum (modern Lyon) under Nero and Vespasian. The Coin of Introduction however has neither the mark of the Capitoline mint nor of Lugdunum. Instead, when inactive, its obverse face bears the likeness of Roman Emperor Nero with a legend marking the outer-face exibiting his regnal name: "Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus." While inactive the reverse facing commemorates Nero's reign from 13 October 54 A.D. – 9 June 68 A.D. or rather the Roman equivalent.
The coin has two modes, inactive as described above and its active state when its complication takes effect. The coin's complication is divinatory in nature and reveals the likeness of someone the coin-holder will meet within the next day or twenty-four hours. The likeness appears on the obverse facing, or heads side, along with a real and official name (no, not a true-name, nor any aliases) worked along the outer edge. The reverse side reveals an event of significance in the designated individuals life with a date and short descriptive legend along the reverse edge.
If examined by a skilled numismatist (specialist in coins and currency) during its inactive phase the inevitable conclusion will be that it is a skilled forgery of a extremely common Roman coin and only valuable in that it is a uniquely perfect replica minus the mark of minting and thus a curio. The coin only reveals its provenance to new owners who must purchase the coin either from its rightful owner or their heir. Here lies the rub, the term purchase can mean many things including murder. Regardless of how the coin is purchased the provenance or chain of its ownership plays out for the new owner revealing its history.
The coin's first owner, Julia Agrippina (Agrippina the Younger), was the wife of emperor Claudius and mother of Claudius' successor Nero. Agrippina has been described by modern and ancient sources as ruthless, ambitious, domineering, and using her powerful political ties to influence the affairs of the Roman state, even managing to successfully maneuver her son Nero into the line of succession. Claudius eventually became aware of her plotting, but died in AD 54 under suspicious circumstances, potentially poisoned by Agrippina herself. She exerted significant political influence in the early years of her son's reign, but eventually fell out of favor with him and was killed in AD 59.
As the coin's complication reveals its provenance it details Julia Agrippina commissioning the coin by its maker a notorious astrologer and alchemist in 54 A.D. The coin's divinatory complication reveals the past, its past, through its successive owners and reveals the future by alerting its current owner of significant individuals he or she is likely to soon meet.