Faustina Friday – The DIANA LVCIFERA issues of Faustina the Younger

[Roman Collector]

Friday felicitations, fellow Faustina fanatics! I hope you have an enjoyable and coin-filled weekend ahead. Today we will examine a reverse type for Faustina the Younger that was issued only in the bronze denominations, the DIANA LVCIFERA issue. This issue always depicts the empress wearing the Beckmann Type 10 hairstyle and dates to 170-171 CE or later. Do not mistake it for the DIANA LVCIF issue of 157 CE, which depicts the empress in the Beckmann Type 5 coiffure and which was issued in all metals.

The coins of the DIANA LVCIFERA issue are known with a number of varieties. The empress may be bare-headed or wearing a stephane and the obverse inscription may be in the nominative or the dative case. On one medium bronze reverse die, Diana appears standing left instead of right. I will begin by illustrating each of the various varieties with specimens from my own collection and, if necessary, with photographs from museum or auctions, which are cited accordingly.

SESTERTII

Nominative case inscription, bare-headed bust:

Faustina II, 147-175 CE.
Roman orichalcum sestertius, 24.41 g, 30.5 mm, 6 h.
Rome, 170-171 CE or later.
Obv: FAVSTINA AVGVSTA, bare-headed and draped bust, right (Beckmann Type 10 hairstyle).
Rev: DIANA LVCIFERA S C, Diana standing right, holding lighted torch in both hands.
Refs: RIC 1630; BMCRE 899-900; Cohen 88; RCV 5272; MIR 8-6/10c.
Notes: Double die-match to BMCRE 900.

Nominative case inscription, stephaned bust:

Faustina II, 147-175 CE.
Roman orichalcum sestertius, 23.09 g, 32.1 mm, 6 h.
Rome, 170-171 CE or later.
Obv: FAVSTINA AVGVSTA, draped bust, right, wearing stephane (Beckmann Type 10 hairstyle).
Rev: DIANA LVCIFERA S C, Diana standing right, holding lighted torch in both hands.
Refs: Refs: RIC 1631; BMCRE 901; Cohen 91; RCV –; MIR 8-6/10c diad.

Dative case inscription, bare-headed bust:

Faustina II, 147-175 CE.
Roman orichalcum sestertius, 20.66 g, 29 mm, 6 h.
Rome, 170-171 CE or later.
Obv: FAVSTINAE AVGVSTAE, bare-headed and draped bust, right; late coiffure.
Rev: DIANA LVCIFERA S C, Diana standing right, holding lighted torch in both hands.
Refs: Dinsdale 007295 (this coin), otherwise unattested with dative obverse inscription.[1]

AS OR DUPONDIUS

Bare-headed bust, Diana standing right:

Faustina II, 147-175 CE.
Roman Æ as, 9.77 g, 25.1 mm, 11 h.
Rome, 170-171 CE or later.
Obv: FAVSTINA AVGVSTA, bare-headed and draped bust, right (Beckmann Type 10 hairstyle).
Rev: DIANA LVCIFERA S C, Diana standing right, holding lighted torch in both hands.
Refs: RIC 1632; BMCRE 974-75; Cohen 89; RCV –; MIR 8-7/10c.

Bare-headed bust, Diana standing left:

Æ as (RIC 1633, 11.90 g, 26 mm) depicting Diana standing left, a mirror-image of the usual reverse. Otto Helbing Nachfolger, Munich, Auction 49, lot 339, 22 March 1926. This specimen may be unique.

Stephaned bust, Diana standing right:

Orichalcum dupondius (RIC –, BMCRE 976, 18.01 g) depicting Faustina wearing a stephane. British Museum collection, BMCRE 976.

Dating and Purpose of the Issue

When I first acquired the sestertius with the dative obverse legend, I thought it might be a mule of an obverse die intended for use with the MATRI CASTRORVM reverse type (RIC 1660; see discussion here). Were it a die match with any of the known examples of RIC 1660, this would be proven, allowing it to be dated to 174-175 CE with certainty. Unfortunately, I have been able to find only two examples of RIC 1660 online (an example Bertolami attempted to sell three times and the British Museum specimen (BMCRE 929). It is not an obverse die match to either, which argues against the mule explanation. Moreover, for what possible purpose would a Diana Lucifera reverse type have been issued in the final year of Faustina’s life?

However, I have subsequently come to believe the coin was struck to commemorate the birth of Vibia Aurelia Sabina, born in 170 or 171 CE. Diana Lucifera is a goddess of childbirth.[2] This DIANA LVCIFERA reverse type strongly echoes the earlier DIANA LVCIF issue struck to commemorate the birth of T. Aelius Aurelius. This later Diana Lucifera issue is similarly best taken as commemorating the birth of a child. For this reason, I favor a date of 170-171 for this coin, though acknowledge there is uncertainty about this.

The Use of the Stephane

All known specimens of the sestertius depicting the empress wearing a stephane were struck with a single obverse die. Similarly, a single obverse die accounts for all known specimens of the middle bronze of the type depicting a stephaned bust.[3] Several reverse types for Faustina the Younger, struck under both Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius feature bare headed as well as stephaned bust types. Beckmann’s die study of the aurei of Faustina the Younger demonstrates that these bust varieties were in use simultaneously and not as separate issues. The use of the stephane appears to be a matter of artistic style; if it served a specific purpose at the Rome mint, that purpose is an enigma to us in modern times.

The Use of the Dative Case

On Roman coinage, the use of the dative case is typically dedicatory.[4] Why the dative case should be used on this issue is puzzling; @curtislclay rightfully ponders, "Faustina's obverse legend had been in the nominative case since about 150; why this … return to the dative c. 25 years later?" [5] The use of the dative is easier to explain on the MATRI CASTRORVM reverse type but makes little sense for the DIANA LVCIFERA reverse type. The dative inscription appears to be the product of a single obverse die. If it is not a mule produced with an obverse die intended for the MATRI CASTRORVM reverse type, its use is idiosyncratic. As it stands, the purpose of the dative case on the obverse inscription on the DIANA LVCIFERA type remains unclear.

Do you have any examples of this interesting coin type? As always, post comments, coins, and anything you feel is relevant!

~~~

Notes:

1. The inscription is unattested in Cohen, RIC, BMCRE, MIR, and Cayon. Our own @Marsyas Mike seems to be the first person to have noticed this variety, when he posted the example from his collection on 20 November 2020 at Coin Talk. This puzzled me at the time, but when I purchased an example six weeks later for my own collection, I posted about it and a few other examples from other sales surfaced in the course of the discussion, for a total of four, all struck with the same obverse die.

2. "Artemis Goddess of Hunting, Wild Animals, Children and Birth." Theoi.com, https://www.theoi.com/Olympios/ArtemisGoddess.html.

3. In addition to the British Museum specimen illustrated above, there are two other known specimens: Artemide Kunstauktionen e-Live Auction 16, lot 388, 23 January 2021 and CNG Electronic Auction 289, lot 32, 24 October 2012.

4. Jonathan Williams. "The Republican identity of Roman imperial coinage. 1st to mid-3rd centuries AD." Money and Identity. Lectures about History, Design and Museology of Money [Proceedings of the 11th Meeting of the International Committee of Money and Banking Museums (ICOMON), Seoul, 2004] edited by Reiner Cunz, Hannover 2007, pp. 57-72; see pp. 61 and 68.

5. Personal communication.

[expat]

Another fantastic piece of explanation and detail about a coin I do not possess. Needless to say, it is now on my want list. Similar situation when I read one of your write ups about lifetime issues of Faustina I, one of which I now own. Thanks for these weekly posts.

[robinjojo]

Your thread on this subject in Cointalk, back in 2022 sparked my interest in the dative DIANA LVCIFERA type sestertius of Faustina the Younger.  Quirky coins have always had a personal appeal.

I was able to locate an example on the MA Shops site, so I went for it.  This coin appears to be a die match with your example for both the obverse and reverse.

Faustina II, sestertius, 174/5 AD. 

DIANA LVCIFERA reverse, dative obverse.

RIC 1630

22.37 grams

[Roman Collector]

3 hours ago, expat said:

Another fantastic piece of explanation and detail about a coin I do not possess. Needless to say, it is now on my want list. Similar situation when I read one of your write ups about lifetime issues of Faustina I, one of which I now own. Thanks for these weekly posts.

Thank you so much for reading and for your kind words! 

1 hour ago, robinjojo said:

Your thread on this subject in Cointalk, back in 2022 sparked my interest in the dative DIANA LVCIFERA type sestertius of Faustina the Younger.  Quirky coins have always had a personal appeal.

I was able to locate an example on the MA Shops site, so I went for it.  This coin appears to be a die match with your example for both the obverse and reverse.

Faustina II, sestertius, 174/5 AD. 

DIANA LVCIFERA reverse, dative obverse.

RIC 1630

22.37 grams

Fantastic! It's good to see additional specimens of this type because each additional die-matched example confirms that it appears to be a product of a single obverse die. 

 

[robinjojo]

Thanks!

The obverse legend, FAVSTINAE AVGVSTAE, is plural, so could this be a reference to both Faustina Senior and Younger, since this coin was minted around the time of Faustina the Younger's death.  I've seen the DIANA LVCIFERA paired with the Diva Faustina obverse, so I would assume this variety is contemporaneous to the Diva issues.

I know next to nothing about Latin, having studied French in school, something that I've totally forgotten now, so I defer to others more versed in this language. 

Edited July 12 by robinjojo

[Roman Collector]

1 minute ago, robinjojo said:

Thanks!

The obverse legend, FAVSTINAE AVGVSTAE, is plural, so could this be a reference to both Faustina Senior and Younger, since this coin was minted around the time of Faustina the Younger's death.  I've seen the FAVSTINAE AVGVSTAE paired with the Diva Faustina obverse, so I would assume this variety is contemporaneous to the Diva issues.

I know next to nothing about Latin, having studied French in school, something that I've totally forgotten now, so I defer to others more versed in this language. 

It's more likely a dative singular.