Auguste & Agrippa - AE dupondius - Nemausus

Augustus & Agrippa 27 B.C. - 14 A.D.
AE dupondiud, Nemausus, 10-14 A.D.
IMP / P - P / DIVI•F Head of Agrippa left and Augustus right back to back. Agrippa wears a rostral crown combined with a laurel wreath and Augustus a laurel wreath.
COL(onia)-NEM(ausus) Crocodile right, chained to a palm surmonted by a wreath with long ties.
11,97 g. RIC 52,158. RPC 525. Large flan. Splendid black patin. Superb

The coins of Nemausus have generally been regarded as asses. But the weight of the “crocodiles” suits the Augustean dupondius and, as the mint of Lugdunum produced, between 10 and 7 B.C., copper asses which circulated together with Nemausan coins, it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that the “crocodiles” were intended to pass as dupondii, even if the were not made of brass, but of bronze. Their value was, in fact, indicated by the presence of two heads on the obverse of the coin, one head meaning the value of one as.