Both the images and the inscriptions have specific aims which are intrinsically linked to the desires of the new emperor. .
The fact that the obverse shows both Agrippina and Nero is important, as is the placement of the two portraits. Agrippina was instrumental in Nero becoming emperor; forcing Claudius to adopt him (he was her son from a previous marriage), having Britannicus, Claudius" other son, killed, and finally killing Claudius himself. While Nero was indebted to her, he was also resentful of her desire to manipulate him, and through him try to control the empire. These feelings are manifested in the coin because although she is included, she is shown in the shadow of Nero, behind him, and her titles are relegated to the reverse. This is "a barely noticeable sign of the decline soon to become ruinous"1 , as Nero quickly grew so tired of his mother's meddling that he had her killed.
The reverse is a continuation of the begrudging "filial piety" seen on the obverse. It is an example of a fairly standard practice in the Roman empire in which the new emperor shows respect for the previous emperor. In this case, it rings a bit hollow since Nero was well aware that his mother poisoned Claudius so that he could take control. Augustus is also included in an effort to associate Nero with the revered first emperor, and to show that he honors his great ancestors as well. The fact that they are riding in a chariot drawn by elephants refers to an event in Roman funerary practices whereby a week after the body of the previous emperor was cremated, there was a procession "from the Capitoline to the Circus, with statues of the gods and a gilded image of the deceased borne in a chariot drawn by elephants,"2 which signaled the start of funerary games. This motif was a standard funerary one and its message of honoring the deceased would be easily interpreted.
On both sides of the coin, "cautious, respectable continuity is the keynote of [the] designs.