Side (AD 166-177) AE 19 - Commodus

Commodus, as Caesar, 166-177 AD. AE19 (3.52g, 6h). AVT KAIC Λ A KOMMOΔON, bareheaded, draped, and cuirassed bust right / CI ΔH T ωN, Athena standing facing, head left, extending hand and holding spear. Good VF, green patina. Apparently unique. Group CEM.

This coin is quite possibly the first coin of Commodus issued anywhere. His earliest issues at Rome are conventionally dated to AD 175, but are certainly struck after he attained the title of Germanicus in AD 172. This coin, however, shares a reverse die with an issue of Lucius Verus (SNG France 807), and it is unlikely that this die would have been retained so long after Verus died in AD 169. As this piece does not exhibit significant die wear, it is more likely that it was struck concurrently with the issue of Verus, while Commodus was Caesar, ca AD 166-169.