Hoping to get some help/information regarding this coin of Herennia Etruscilla. I'm not well versed on coins of this empress wife of Trajan Decius. It weighs 9,61 g and measures 23mm. Nice deep jade patina (not reflected in my poor photos). I am therefore assuming this is an As, further guessing RIC 136? Would this be correct? Not many examples of this type in acsearch. Appears to be a fairly scarce issue. many thanks in advance for your help
Nice as. I doubt the denomination had much buying power this late so the demand was down from the glory days. My sestertius weighs 17.1g and, significantly IMO, has squared off edges while asses of the period were made on flans that, like yours, are rounded over a bit and more round on average. This is hard to put in words or show in photos but the difference is clear with coins in hand.
Wow, both of you dudes are sportin' pretty fine lookin' asses, my friends (congrats) Ummm, I only have this humble AR example of Herennia Etruscilla ...
Thank you all. Thank you, Doug. I was a little thrown off by the tiny size of this coin. But this would be explained I guess by the fact that late Bronzes weighed much less than earlier issues. I have also observed that many of Herennia's bronzes have the bust set on a crescent. Is this the case for her sestertii and dupondii? As i said, I am not familiar with her coinage. Thank you all for posting your (pardon me) asse(s)
Very nice @Eduard ! I am sorry that I cannot help. I do not have an As, and I am not well versed in the Empire coins. I do have an Ant from her: Herennia Etruscilla, 249-251 CE 3.24g Head of Herennia Etruscilla right, crescent below "HER ETRVCILLA AVG" "FECVNDITAS AVG" Fecunditas standing left holdign a cornucopiae and one hand out to a child at her feet. RSC 8 Ex Hans Schulman April 1962
Thank you, guys, also for posting your Ants. One of the things that struck me by looking at your examples is the variety of hairstyles which Herennia Etruscilla sported.
In general, the radiate crown of the emperor is paralleled by a crescent for the Augustae meaning the coin is a double something. Check the double sestertius below: https://www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=203339
She is portrayed with two hairstyles. The straight hair is her earlier coiffure and the wavy, Julia Mamaea-style hairstyle is her later coiffure. Some reverse types are known with only one hairstyle or the other. Some, like these PVDICITIA reverse types, are known with both hairstyles:
Thank you for the explanation, Roman Collector. I know one collector here who has a special interest in the hairstyles of Roman Ladies as portrayed in their coinage.
