Faustina Friday – Some Recent Additions to My Faustina the Elder Collection

[Roman Collector]

Friday felicitations, fellow Faustina fanatics. I hope you have a coin-filled weekend ahead. May you be victorious at the auctions!

I have written nearly 200 installments of Faustina Friday and I am exhausting the possible themes for each week. Nonetheless, I still have numerous coins and varieties on my want list and I have been acquiring these for my collection. I devote this week's installment to coin types I've already written about but which I had to illustrate with museum specimens or dealer photos from auctions because I didn't have a specimen of my own to show. I have acquired four such coins in recent weeks and I've edited my original posts without fanfare, replacing the necessary images with photos of coins in my own collection. However, I do want to show my new coins, so that's what I'm going to do today.

A Lifetime Denarius Purchased from @lrbguy

Forum member @lrbguy has long known that my collection was missing a coin that he had in his collection, a denarius from the first issue for Faustina the Elder after Antoninus Pius assumed the purple. For this reason, he was kind enough to offer it to me in a private sale before he consigned his collection to Leu. For this I am very grateful! You may read more about this coin in this installment of Faustina Friday about her first issue.

Faustina I, 138-140 CE.
Roman AR denarius, 3.39 g, 18.5 mm, 6 h.
Rome, 11 July 138-28 February 139 CE.
Obv: FAVSTINA AVG ANTONINI AVG, bare-headed and draped bust, right.
Rev: VESTA, Vesta seated left, holding palladium and scepter.
Refs: RIC 334c; BMCRE 37; Cohen 285; Strack 393; RCV 467; CRE 149.
Note: Double die match to British Museum and Gemini Auction specimens.

An Early Posthumous Sestertius with a Bare-Headed Portrait

This is one of several reverse types issued immediately following the death and consecration of Faustina the Elder in October 140 CE. As a rule, the coins issued for Diva Faustina the Elder shortly after her death tend to have a mixture of bare-headed and veiled portraits, but the use of veiled portraits decreased over time, such that they were rarely used on the issues after 150 CE. This coin was issued with both bare-headed and draped busts and neither type is particularly rare. I had simply lacked the bare-headed version for my collection. You may read more about this coin in this installment of Faustina Friday about this reverse type and all of its variations.

Faustina I, 138-140 CE.
Roman orichalcum sestertius, 26.33 g, 33.1 mm, 5 h.
Rome, 140-141 CE.
Obv: DIVA AVGVSTA FAVSTINA, bare-headed and draped bust, right.
Rev: AETERNITAS S C, Providentia standing left, holding globe and scepter.
Refs: RIC 1108(a); BMCRE 1419-20; Cohen 37; Strack 1230; RCV 4609; Banti 17.

An Early Posthumous Denarius with a Bare-Headed Portrait

This denarius also features one of the reverse types issued immediately following the death and consecration of Faustina the Elder in October 140 CE. This denarius was issued with both bare-headed and draped busts and neither type is particularly rare. I had simply lacked the bare-headed version for my collection. You may read more about this coin in this installment of Faustina Friday about this reverse type and its iconography.

Faustina I, 138-140 CE.
Roman AR denarius, 2.60 g, 19.1 mm, 6 h.
Rome, 140-141 CE.
Obv: DIVA AVG FAVSTINA, bare-headed and draped bust, right.
Rev: CONSECRATIO, eagle standing right, head left.
Refs: RIC 387(a); BMCRE 303-304; Cohen 180; Strack 413; RCV 4595; CRE 94.
Notes: Reverse die match to BMCRE 303.

A Late Posthumous Medium Bronze with a Veiled Portrait

This medium bronze was issued late in the reign of Antoninus Pius, sometime after 155 CE. As I noted above, by this time veiled bust portraits were only rarely used on the coins of Faustina the Elder. In several instances, the veiled bust varieties appear to have been the product of a single variant obverse die. This is likely the case with this medium bronze depicting Aeternitas seated left, holding a globe with phoenix in her right hand and a scepter in her left, issued c. 155-161 CE. You may read about this coin in this installment of Faustina Friday about this reverse type and its iconography.

Faustina I, AD 138-140.
Roman Æ as or dupondius, 10.91 gm, 27.3 mm, 12 h.
Rome, c. AD 155-161.
Obv: DIVA FAVSTINA, veiled and draped bust, right.
Rev: AETERNITAS SC, Aeternitas enthroned left, holding phoenix on globe and scepter.
Refs: RIC 1156(b); BMCRE 1549n.; Cohen 18 (no citation); Strack 1265 (Mü); RCV –.
Notes: Rare. Other known specimens are the Munich specimen (Strack), Cohen specimen (not cited and may be the Munich specimen), and Rauch E-Auction 11, lot 402, 23 March 2012.

Have you recently acquired coins of Faustina the Elder? Let’s see your latest acquisitions!

[Anaximander]

Here's my one and only Faustina Senior. Posthumous, naturally. Some interesting hues at work, here.

 

Roman Empire. Faustina Senior, wife of Antoninus Pius. †141 AD. AR Denarius (3.44 gm, 19.8mm, 6h) of Rome, after 147 AD. Draped bust of Faustina, right. DIVA FAVSTINA.  / Providencia standing left, holding globe and grasping veil that billows out behind her head. AETER-NITAS. EF. Bt. Herakles Numismatics, 2004.  RIC III (Antoninus Pius) #351; BMCRE 373; RSC II #32; SRCV II #4578; Strack 447.

[expat]

Beautiful new acquisitions @Roman Collector and always a treat for me to read your installments on Fridays.

Here is my latest, received a few weeks ago

Faustina I Denarius. Lifetime issue. 138-140 CE. FAVSTINA AVGVSTA, draped bust right / IVNONI REGINAE, Juno standing left, holding a patera and sceptre, peacock before. RIC 338, RSC 215. Sear 4669. 18mm, 3.15gr

[lrbguy]

Barely three years after the ascent of Antoninus Pius to the imperial throne his cherished wife Faustina died, in 138 A.D. and the emperor, who never remarried, devoted considerable energy and expense to honoring her memory for the rest of his life.  Of the many coins issued in her name and honor, perhaps my favorite is the coin type issued in conjunction with the creation of a public charity he called Puellae Faustinianae ("Girls of Faustina") for the welfare assistance of orphaned Roman girls.  This title appears on some gold and silver coins which were issued as part of the act of founding this charity.

 

I did not choose to consign my example of this coin type for auction, which is not well preserved, though I would have kept it in any case.  
The reverse scene is a very busy composite with Antoninus seated on platform above, and Faustina standing next to him.  A man stands before them at left holding up a child for their attention.  A third pair of figures appear below and in front of the platform, and the larger (man) appears to be running or striding toward a child.

 

[thejewk]

Nice additions RC, always satisfying to fill some elusive holes.

[Roman Collector]

On 6/28/2024 at 6:20 AM, Anaximander said:

Here's my one and only Faustina Senior. Posthumous, naturally. Some interesting hues at work, here.

 

Roman Empire. Faustina Senior, wife of Antoninus Pius. †141 AD. AR Denarius (3.44 gm, 19.8mm, 6h) of Rome, after 147 AD. Draped bust of Faustina, right. DIVA FAVSTINA.  / Providencia standing left, holding globe and grasping veil that billows out behind her head. AETER-NITAS. EF. Bt. Herakles Numismatics, 2004.  RIC III (Antoninus Pius) #351; BMCRE 373; RSC II #32; SRCV II #4578; Strack 447.

Lovely denarius with gorgeous toning! 

On 6/28/2024 at 10:54 AM, expat said:

Beautiful new acquisitions @Roman Collector and always a treat for me to read your installments on Fridays.

Here is my latest, received a few weeks ago

Faustina I Denarius. Lifetime issue. 138-140 CE. FAVSTINA AVGVSTA, draped bust right / IVNONI REGINAE, Juno standing left, holding a patera and sceptre, peacock before. RIC 338, RSC 215. Sear 4669. 18mm, 3.15gr

I love it! Always a treat to see a lifetime issue of Faustina the Elder. 

On 6/28/2024 at 3:35 PM, lrbguy said:

Barely three years after the ascent of Antoninus Pius to the imperial throne his cherished wife Faustina died, in 138 A.D. and the emperor, who never remarried, devoted considerable energy and expense to honoring her memory for the rest of his life.  Of the many coins issued in her name and honor, perhaps my favorite is the coin type issued in conjunction with the creation of a public charity he called Puellae Faustinianae ("Girls of Faustina") for the welfare assistance of orphaned Roman girls.  This title appears on some gold and silver coins which were issued as part of the act of founding this charity.

 

I did not choose to consign my example of this coin type for auction, which is not well preserved, though I would have kept it in any case.  
The reverse scene is a very busy composite with Antoninus seated on platform above, and Faustina standing next to him.  A man stands before them at left holding up a child for their attention.  A third pair of figures appear below and in front of the platform, and the larger (man) appears to be running or striding toward a child.

 

Wow!!! That's lovely and difficult to acquire in any grade! I still need one of those Puellae Faustinianae denarii for my numophylacium.  

3 hours ago, thejewk said:

Nice additions RC, always satisfying to fill some elusive holes.

Thank you for the kind words! It's always a pleasure to hear from a reader who enjoys Faustina Friday.