Faustina Friday – Dating the Empress's Obverse Titulature Using a Limited Reverse Type

Roman Collector · September 13

I recently had the opportunity to purchase two sestertii of Faustina the Younger with the same reverse type, the CONCORDIA, Concordia standing, arranging drapery and holding cornucopiae reverse type.

Faustina II, 147-175 CE.
Roman orichalcum sestertius, 25.37 g, 34.7 mm, 6 h.
Rome, c. May 151 CE.
Obv: FAVSTINAE AVG PII AVG FIL, bare-headed and draped bust, right (Beckmann Type 2 hairstyle).
Rev: Concordia standing left, head left, drawing out drapery with right hand and holding cornucopia in left hand.
Refs: RIC –; BMCRE p. 372*; Cohen –; Banti 29; Strack 1297; RCV –.
Notes: Ex-Curtis L. Clay; ex-CNG E335, lot 498, 24 September 2014 = Stack’s Bowers & Ponterio, Sale 153, March 2010 Baltimore Auction, lot 8105, 5 March 2010. All specimens illustrated online were struck with the same obverse die. Cf. Banti 29 = Santamaria 1953, Signorelli, lot 493 = Naville E-auction 67, lot 419, 1 August 2021; HJ Berk 229^th B/B sale, lot 162, October 2024 = Lanz, eBay 7 Sept. 2009; CGB.fr (Web Shop), lot brm_130880; CGB.fr (Web Shop), lot brm_468187; Zurquieh SKU: 5943.

Faustina II, 147-175 CE.
Roman orichalcum sestertius, 29.05 g, 32.3 mm, 6 h.
Rome, about May 151 to the end of summer 151 CE.
Obv: FAVSTINA AVG PII AVG FIL, bare-headed and draped bust, right (Beckmann Type 2 hairstyle).
Rev: Concordia standing left, head left, drawing out drapery with right hand and holding cornucopia in left hand.
Refs: RIC 1373; BMCRE 2174 corr.; Cohen 47; Banti 26-28; Strack 1313; RCV –.
Notes: Ex-Curtis L. Clay; ex CNG E447, lot 467, 3 July 2019. BMCRE incorrectly describes Concordia as head right.

Note the two coins bear different obverse legends. The empress's obverse titulature is complicated, because over the reign of Antoninus Pius, five obverse legends were used at various times. Note also that they were struck with the same reverse die. This reverse die-linkage has important implications for determining the relative sequences and dating of the various obverse legends used on coins for Faustina the Younger.

To emphasize the transition from the dative to the nominative obverse inscriptions during the production of the CONCORDIA standing reverse type, I offer another reverse-die-matched pair but struck with a different reverse die from the specimens in my collection. Note the obverse die match between the coin with the dative FAVSTINAE AVG PII AVG FIL inscription and the coin in my collection, above.

Sestertius featuring the earlier dative obverse inscription (Strack 1297). Naville E-auction 67, lot 419, 1 August 2021 = Santamaria 1953, Signorelli, lot 493 = Banti 29.

Sestertius featuring the later nominative obverse inscription (RIC 1373). Adolf Cahn, Auction 40, lot 463, 23 February 1920.

The Traditional Paradigm

The standard references agree in the order in which her five obverse inscriptions occur. Where they disagree, however, is in the exact dating of the various phases in which they were used. Mattingly notes it is difficult to assign more than a relative order of inscriptions, stating, "The coinage of Faustina II contains very few references that can in themselves be clearly dated, but, inside the chronological groups above determined by style of coiffure and obverse legend, some probable relations can be established."[1] He recommends the reader consult Strack,[2] but assigns dates, as I discuss below, which differ somewhat from those of Strack. Sear assigns his own dates, stating, "The approximate chronology assigned to the individual types is based on Mattingly's work in BMCRE IV, but incorporates significant modifications of my own."[3] These tend to be later than those noted by Strack and Mattingly, despite their evidence to support an earlier date. I think Sear errs because of this and for this reason, I will not discuss Sear's dating further.

The first coin illustrated bears the empress's earliest inscription, which is in the dative case, FAVSTINAE AVG PII AVG FIL. This obverse legend is dated to 147- about 150 CE by Mattingly,[4] and to 147-149 CE by Strack.[5] Mattingly and Strack then postulate that the expanded FAVSTINA AVG ANTONINI AVG PII FIL obverse legend then superceded the dative case inscription. Mattingly dates this longer inscription to c. 150-152 and Strack to 149-152.[6] Both Mattingly and Strack then note the subsequent appearance of a third obverse legend, resembling the first but in the nominative case, FAVSTINA AVG PII AVG FIL, which Mattingly dates to c. 152-153 and Strack to 152-156. However, subsequent work by our own @curtislclay and by Martin Beckmann have demonstrated that the traditional chronological arrangement of Faustina's obverse legends as reported by Mattingly and by Strack needs to be modified, at least for the silver and gold denominations.

The New Paradigm

In the late 1980s, Curtis Clay compared the denarii of Pius, Marcus Aurelius and Faustina and their representation in the Reka Devnia hoard and elucidated an absolute chronology for the silver issues of Faustina II. In the course of this work, he concluded that the FAVSTINA AVG PII AVG FIL legend was in use for about four or five months beginning about May 151 CE, followed by the FAVSTINA AVG ANTONINI AVG PII FIL legend, which was in use for about seven or eight months, from the end of summer 151 to about June 152, after which it reverted to the FAVSTINA AVG PII AVG FIL legend, which was in use through the end of 155 CE.[7]

Similarly, Beckmann, in his die-linkage study of the aurei of Faustina the Younger, noted a shift from the first dative case legend to a new obverse legend in the nominative case, FAVSTINA AVG PII AVG FIL. This change was not sudden or clear cut but, rather, transpired over a period of extended coin production marked by what Beckmann describes as a "confusing array of different obverse legends, portraits, and reverse types." He further notes that this legend appeared briefly before a new obverse legend was introduced, FAVSTINA AVG ANTONINI AVG PII FIL, which was used for a somewhat longer time before it was switched back to FAVSTINA AVG PII AVG FIL.[8] In contrast to Curtis Clay, Beckmann was not able to establish an absolute chronology for the sequence of obverse inscriptions.

So, it is clear that for the denarius and aureus denominations, the shorter legend, FAVSTINA AVG PII AVG FIL, was in use both before and after the longer legend, FAVSTINA AVG ANTONINI AVG PII FIL. However, neither Beckmann nor Clay examined the chronology of the bronze denominations, and it had been unclear whether the same sequence of obverse inscriptions also occurred with the bronze denominations. That's where the reverse die-linkage between the two sestertii I have illustrated above comes in.

Because the coins share a common reverse die but the former reads FAVSTINAE AVG PII AVG FIL and the latter reads FAVSTINA AVG PII AVG FIL, the chronologies of Mattingly and Strack must be modified for the sestertius denomination as well because the die linkage rules out the possibility that the longer legend, FAVSTINA AVG ANTONINI AVG PII FIL, comes between the FAVSTINAE AVG PII AVG FIL and FAVSTINA AVG PII AVG FIL legends.

In addition to the four sestertii above that demonstrate the transition from the FAVSTINAE AVG PII AVG FIL to the FAVSTINA AVG PII AVG FIL legends, another reverse die linkage demonstrates the transition from the FAVSTINA AVG PII AVG FIL to the FAVSTINA AVG ANTONINI AVG PII FIL legend.

Sestertius with the FAVSTINA AVG PII AVG FIL legend, in use from c. May 151 to the end of summer 151, RIC 1373. Dr. Busso Peus Nachfolger, Auction 422, lot 328, 26 April 2018.

Faustina II, 147-175 CE.
Roman orichalcum sestertius, 21.27 g, 31.4 mm, 11 h.
Rome, end summer – autumn 151 CE.
Obv: FAVSTINA AVG ANTONINI AVG PII FIL, bare-headed and draped bust, right (Beckmann Type 2 hairstyle).
Rev: CONCORDIA S C, Concordia, standing front, head right, drawing out drapery and holding cornucopiae.
Refs: RIC 1372b; BMCRE 2166; Cohen 51; Strack 1309; RCV 4712.
Note: Obverse die match to BMCRE 2166; reverse die match to Cohen 51 (RGD 1822). I have previously discussed this coin here at NVMIS FORVMS.

In bronze, the CONCORDIA standing, the CONCORDIA seated, and the VENVS standing holding apple and scepter issues are known with obverse legend varieties and they can be arranged in a manner consistent with Curtis Clay's and Martin Beckmann's findings. Including the reverse type discussed in detail above, we note the following transitions from one obverse inscription to another.

FAVSTINAE AVG PII AVG FIL --> FAVSTINA AVG ANTONINI AVG PII FIL:
VENVS standing adjusting drapery on right shoulder and holding apple (RIC 1410a --> 1410c; type 1 & type 2 hairstyles, respectively). As I have recently discussed, this situation appears to reflect two separate issues about two years apart.

FAVSTINAE AVG PII AVG FIL --> FAVSTINA AVG PII AVG FIL --> FAVSTINA AVG ANTONINI AVG PII FIL:
CONCORDIA standing raising fold of drapery and holding cornucopiae (Strack 1297 --> RIC 1373 --> RIC 1372b; all with the type 2 hairstyle). These are the coins illustrated and discussed above.

FAVSTINA AVG ANTONINI AVG PII FIL --> FAVSTINA AVG PII AVG FIL:
CONCORDIA seated l., holding flower, resting elbow on cornucopiae (RIC 1374b --> RIC 1374a; types 2 or 3 hairstyles). As I have discussed elsewhere, we know that the CONCORDIA seated reverse type was issued after the CONCORDIA standing type and continues through the introduction of Faustina's Type 5 coiffure in 154 CE (in silver).

FAVSTINA AVG ANTONINI AVG PII FIL --> FAVSTINA AVG PII AVG FIL:
VENVS standing l., holding apple and scepter (RIC 1387(6) --> RIC 1387(3); type 2 or type 3 hairstyle).

In conclusion, the sequence of obverse legends as determined by Clay and Beckmann, each working independently and with different methodologies, appears to have been:

1. FAVSTINAE AVG PII AVG F(IL), AD 147 to May 151.
2. FAVSTINA AVG PII AVG FIL, about May 151 to the end of summer 151 CE.
3. FAVSTINA AVG ANTONINI AVG PII FIL, end of summer 151 to about June 152.
4. FAVSTINA AVG PII AVG FIL, about June 152 through December 155.
5. FAVSTINA AVGVSTA AVG PII F(IL), January 156 to July 156.
6. FAVSTINA AVGVSTA / AVGVSTI PII FIL, July 156 to 157.

I want to caution the reader that although the relative chronology of these inscriptions is well-established, the absolute chronology is not. The dates given here are approximations, generalizing from studies of the aureus and denarius denominations. The workshops striking bronze coins, though working side by side with those striking gold and silver coins, may not have worked in close parallel and assigning dates to the inscriptions on the bronze coins is somewhat of a leap of faith. Moreover, there were almost certainly periods when the various legends or various hairstyles overlapped and were in simultaneous production, no matter the denomination.

Dating the CONCORDIA standing sestertii

This reverse type must have been introduced at the very tail end of the period of usage of the dative case FAVSTINAE AVG PII AVG FIL obverse inscription around May 151 CE, for these coins are very rare and appear to have been the product of a single obverse die. The coins with the FAVSTINA AVG PII AVG FIL are more common and were apparently in continuous production from about May to the end of summer 151 CE. The CONCORDIA standing type seems to have been discontinued shortly after the introduction of the FAVSTINA AVG ANTONINI AVG PII FIL legend at the end of summer 151 because of the rarity of the type bearing this expanded obverse legend. Moreover, the few known specimens of the type were produced with a limited number of obverse and reverse dies, and it seems unlikely that its production lasted beyond autumn 151 CE.

Please post comments or any coins you feel are relevant!

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Notes

1. Mattingly, Harold, Coins of the Roman Empire in the British Museum, vol. 4, Antoninus Pius to Commodus. London, 1940, reprinted with alterations 1968, pp. lxxv-lxxvi.

2. Ibid., p. lxxv, n. 4.

3. Sear, David R., Roman Coins and their Values, vol. 2, The Accession of Nerva to the Overthrow of the Severan Dynasty, A.D. 96 -A.D. 235. London, 2002, pp. 281 ff.

4. Mattingly, op. cit., pp. xliv, lxxvi-lxvii; 158 ff for the AV and AR issues; pp. xciii-xciv; 371-382 for the Æ issues.

5. Strack, Paul L., Untersuchungen zur Römischen Reichsprägung des Zweiten Jahrhunderts, vol. 3, Die Reichsprägung zur Zeit des Antoninus Pius. Stuttgart 1937.

6. Mattingly, op. cit.; Strack, op. cit.

7. Curtis L. Clay, personal communication, 13 September 2021.

8. Beckmann, op. cit., p. 42.