Vitellius was only emperor for 8 months in the year 69 AD.
Interestingly he was the third of four men to be Emperor of Rome in 69 AD in the Year of Four Emperors.
After Emperor Nero committed suicide in 68 AD we had Galba and Otho and then Vitellius. He reigned for 8 months and realized that his military were going to remove him in typical Roman fashion and install their military leader Vespasian.
Vitellius had decided to abdicate his position but the soldiers killed him on 12.22.69AD. Vespasian took the job then and held it for a decade.
Here is a nice Vitellius silver denarius from his rule.
Ref Vitellius Denarius, RIC 109, RSC 111, BMC 39
Vitellius AR denarius. A VITELLIVS GERM IMP AVG TR P, laureate head right / XV VIR SACR FAC Tripod, raven below, dolphin above. RSC111, BCM39.
This coin and image are from wildwinds.com. The go to website for matching ancient coins you are thinking about buying to known real coins. Check them out whenever you have an ancient coin issue to research. They are always linked here in the left hand column too if you forget the link.
