Added this coin to an order because it is the first Faustina II I have. For less than 40 Euros I couldn´t resist. Faustina Junior. Augusta, AD 147-175. Orichalcum Dupondius Rome mint. Struck under Marcus Aurelius, circa AD 170-175/6. Obv. FAUSTINA AUGUSTA. Draped bust right. Hair curls down cheek, hair in low chignon fastened with band of pearls. Rev. JUNO standing left, holding patera and scepter; at feet to left, peacock standing left, head right. SC across fields. (25mm, 11.53 g.) RIC III 1647 (Aurelius) Post your Faustinas
Nice Dupondius! Here's my favorite Imperial coin of Faustina Jr. I bought this one because the portrait struck me as exceptionally beautiful & lifelike, unusually so for this period: My favorite bronze of Faustina II is this countermarked Provincial AE29 from Cilicia, Hierapolis-Castabala: That specimen has been illustrated in many volumes, including: SNG von Aulock 5572 = Robert (1964) 27, pl. XXVI.77 = SNG Levante 1586 = RPC IV.3 4976 (temporary), ex. 6; and cited in many others, including: Howgego GIC 686 (as Robert 77); Lindgren III p. 47 (type 840 citing Levante 1586); Berens & Geske (2004) page 40, note 11. I love having as many animals as possible on ancient coins, so I like the Juno with Peacock type. I've got the same reverse, but not on a Faustina; mine's on a Julia Domna Sestertius (albeit with no legends on the flan!):
My Faustina Jr is a sestertius. It reminds me that I really need to figure out a way to polish scratches out of slabs!
Beautiful coin. My answer would be crack it open and enjoy it physically and keep the plastic for provenance and verification. No more irritating scratches and I am sure Bronze is more durable in comparison to plastic.
Thanks for the tip, I'll have to give that a go. I've tried toothpaste a few times and, while it does result in some improvement, it's not quite aggressive enough to fix anything substantial. If I cracked-out my coins then my tidy storage and label referencing system would fall apart! Honestly, if NGC didn't grade ancients then I would purchase generic slabs and encase them all myself. Call me crazy, but I simply prefer the coins mounted in plastic as opposed to loose .
My quite worn Faustina II, which I got because I liked the griffin Æ Drachm Egypt, Alexandria, 150- 151 AD Dated I∆ = RY 14 of Antoninus Pius 33 mm; 26.02 g, 12h RPC IV.4 13720 (temporary); Köln 1957 var. (placement of date); Dattari 3317; K&G 38.62; Emmett 1986.14; Geißen 1957; Milne 2124; Ob.: ΦAVCTINA CЄB CЄB ЄVCЄB ΘVΓ, draped bust right, her hair tied up in a bun with a single strand of pearls Rev.: Griffin, as Nemesis, seated right with left forepaw on wheel; I∆ (date) above, L in exergue. Picture courtesy CNG
That is a great coin, @cmezner ! Apologies for the digression, but the Alexandria Griffins are a special series. The wheel indicates it's not just any Griffin, but Nemesis-as-Griffin. Kerry Wetterstrom may have written first about that re: Alexandrian coins. See his brief essay, "Nemesis as Portrayed on Roman Coinage," in CNR XV.1 (Winter 1990, p. 43). (Elsewhere in Classical art the connection was well known: e.g., extended commentary on Getty's mosaic from Roman Syria.) Also, a great thread started by Al Kowsky in 2020 discussing that topic and w/ many Griffins. (I remember because I ended up buying the OP coin when he parted with it a year or so later!) https://www.cointalk.com/threads/egyptian-drachm-with-a-provenance.354986/
AR Denarius 18mm. 3.10g. Rome Mint 156-175 A.D. Draped bust r., wearing stephane. FAVSTINA AVGVSTA Juno, veiled, seated l. on low seat, holding patera and sceptre, peacock at feet. IVNONI REGINAE RIC III 698; RSC II 145
That's a nice Faustina II dupondius for under 40 euros, very nicely centered! Here's a sestertius that came by way of Roma, E-Sale 94, lot 900. Faustina II (wife of M. Aurelius) Æ Sestertius. Rome, AD 170-175/6. FAVSTINA AVGVSTA, draped bust to right / MATR[I MAG]NAE, Cybele seated to right, holding drum on knee, between two lions seated to right; SC in exergue. RIC III 1663 (Aurelius); C. 169; Banti 92; BMCRE 993. 25.72g, 32mm, 6h. From the Antonio Carmona Collection.
Great coins all. Here is my Faustina the Younger. Roman Empire Faustina II, daughter of Antoninus Pius and wife of Marcus Aurelius AE Sestertius, Rome mint, struck ca. AD 156 Dia.: 33mm Wt.: 26.11g Obv.: FAVSTINA AVGVSTA AVG PII F; Draped bust right Rev.: S-C; Diana standing left, holding bow and arrow Ref.: C 206; RIC A. Pius 1383; BMCRE 2194 From a European Collection formed in the 1980s with tag
Hey @cmezner -- I'm fairly confident I've found a bit of additional provenance for your Faustina Drachm. CNG only gave "Rocky Mountain Collection of Alexandrian" but this coin was previously sold at Antioch Associates Buy-Bid Sale 40 (29 July 2002), Lot 140. (Henry Clay Lindgren's [1914-2005] firm set up to sell his collection duplicates.) Unfortunately Lindgren didn't use the best photos (badly clipped by hand with scissors in those days) or provide weights, but the longer you compare the edge cracks & wear pattern etc., the more clear it'll be that it's the same coin. Differences are due to photo technology of the time. It's not specifically stated, and it's not published in his books (I don't think), but it's presumably from the Henry Clay Lindgren Collection. At this time he had abandoned his plans for volume 4 of his collection & was selling them through Antioch, which he repeatedly wrote he had founded to sell his personal collection. (He was a retired academic psychologist by profession.)
