Faustina I denarius -- scarce AETERNITAS type

Discussion in 'Ancient Coins' started by Roman Collector, Jun 10, 2018.

?

Which deity is depicted on this coin's reverse?

  1. Aeternitas

    6 vote(s)
    66.7%
  2. Juno

    0 vote(s)
    0.0%
  3. Pudicitia

    0 vote(s)
    0.0%
  4. Venus

    3 vote(s)
    33.3%
  5. Some sort of syncretism between various female deities

    0 vote(s)
    0.0%
  1. Roman Collector

    Roman Collector Well-Known Member

    This is the latest addition to my Faustina I collection, courtesy of @Ken Dorney .

    Several different deities are represented on the reverses of this empress, all bearing the inscription AETERNITAS: Aeternitas, Fortuna, Providentia, Ceres, Juno, Venus, Vesta, and Pietas, each identifiable on the basis of their attributes (Ceres holding corn ears and torch, for example). However, the figure portrayed on the reverse of this coin is enigmatic, with Aeternitas, Juno, Pudicitia and Venus all contenders. BMC 4 (p. 42) states, "The sceptre suggests Juno here, but the gesture with the veil might seem more appropriate to Venus perhaps, while the stars on the body directly suggest Aeternitas." Elsewhere (p. 54), the authors suggest Juno or Pudicitia. Temeryazev and Makerenko (p. 54) identify Venus as the reverse type.

    Whoever is depicted on the reverse, this coin is found with three different obverse inscriptions:

    1. DIVA FAVSTINA (RIC 346a; BMC * p. 54; RSC 40; Sear --); my coin is this variety.
    2. DIVA AVG FAVSTINA (RIC 346b; BMC 280; RSC 41; Sear --); this appears to be the most common of the three varieties.
    3. DIVAE FAVSTINAE (RIC --; BMC 487; RSC 40a; Sear --); this is apparently rare.

    Obverse type 1 DIVA FAVSTINA (my coin):

    Faustina Sr AETERNITAS Venus denarius.jpg
    Diva Faustina Senior, died AD 140/1.
    Roman AR Denarius, 3.47 g, 18.1 mm, 6 h.
    Rome mint, under Antoninus Pius, AD 147-161.
    Obv: DIVA FAVSTINA, diademed and draped bust right.
    Rev: AETER-NITAS, Goddess standing front, head right, right hand drawing back fold of veil and holding transverse scepter in left; the middle of her body is seen bare, sown with stars.
    Refs: RIC 346a; BMCRE * p. 54; RSC 40; RCV --; CRE 144.

    I was able to find two other examples online. This one is Freeman & Sear Manhattan Sale I, lot 292, Jan 5, 2010:

    Faustina Sr AETERNITAS Venus denarius FREEMAN SEAR.jpg

    This one is the example at Wildwinds:

    Faustina Sr AETERNITAS Venus denarius Wildwinds.jpg

    The three coins were produced with three different reverse dies. My coin MAY be an obverse die-match with the Wildwinds example.

    Obverse type 2, DIVA AVG FAVSTINA (British Museum collection):

    Faustina Sr AETERNITAS Venus denarius DIVA AVG FAVSTINA BMC.jpg

    There are a handful of examples of this issue at acsearchinfo.

    Obverse type 3 DIVAE FAVSTINAE (British Museum collection):

    Faustina Sr AETERNITAS Venus denarius DIVAE FAVSTINAE BMC.jpg

    I was able to find only one other example of this coin from a 2003 Rauch auction.

    Please post anything you feel is relevant!
     
    Last edited: Jun 13, 2018
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  3. Ancient Aussie

    Ancient Aussie Well-Known Member

    Nice pick up RC, I wonder about the inscription under my Faustina temple sestertius, what god or deity Aeternitas refers to. 2015-01-07 01.07.50-18.jpg
     
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  4. lrbguy

    lrbguy Well-Known Member

    Initially I did not have anything of this exact type to contribute to the discussion, but that has now changed. My second most recent purchase is one of your three types.

    Given the wide range of figures on her denarii that appear with the AETERNITAS legend, as well as an AVGVSTA legend, and the fact that most of her mintage was posthumous, I am dubious of the assumption that the inscription refers to the figure on the reverse at all. I am more inclined to associate this inscription with the deceased and lamented Faustina herself who has entered Aeternitas (i.e. the ageless, endless state).

    The footnote by Mattingly in BMC IV catalogue p. 42 at * follows somewhat the same train of thought: "Probably in all these cases it is the spirit of Aeternitas or Faustina I in eternity that is shown in different aspects. We differentiate them according to the characteristic attributes:
    scepter => Juno
    veil gesture => Venus [or I might suggest, Pudicitia]
    stars on body => Aeternitas directly
    Then he notes: All our attributions are to be taken as subject to this general reserve.

    I'd also like to tweak your ordering of the inscription types. What you are calling Obverse type 2, DIVA AVG FAVSTINA, is listed in BMC as the earliest/first of the three (#280). It is from issue 1 (c141 and immediately later) and has the earliest form of obverse legend. This is the one in which the description mentions the bare middle "sown with stars." I agree that it is the easiest to acquire, and that is what I just added. On my example the stars appear as just a couple of small dots on the midsection:

    FausI-sp73.jpg

    Number 2 on the BMC list is DIVA FAVSTINA which Mattingly assigns as * after 353 with the note: "C.40 (rev. Aeternitas or Pudicitia): one might also think of Venus. This type is apparently the same as on No. 280."

    The 3rd type, with the dative obverse, he assigns to a special place at the end of her listings, classes it as "Exceptional Obverse," and assigns it #487.

    I had not realized this was such an involved little design.
     
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  5. Roman Collector

    Roman Collector Well-Known Member

    @lrbguy -- wow! Thank you for your insightful and detailed thoughts on this coin and for sharing a photo of the version in your own collection.

    Completely agree, though I doubt Pudicitia would ever be portrayed with a bare midriff, à la a young Britney Spears. That's why I postulated a syncretism of sorts between several goddesses.

    Yes, arranging by chronological order, as in BMCRE, makes more sense. I had arranged them by RIC number.

    Yes, it's amazing what a bit of in-depth study will reveal! Often, it raises more questions than it answers.

    Again, thanks so much for your thought-provoking response to my inquiry.
     
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  6. lrbguy

    lrbguy Well-Known Member

    :shame:;)
     
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  7. Roman Collector

    Roman Collector Well-Known Member

    Salus standing, facing, perhaps?

    1243 Salus.jpg
     
  8. lrbguy

    lrbguy Well-Known Member

    Uh, oh...Looks like Eve got into the tree again!
     
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  9. Roman Collector

    Roman Collector Well-Known Member

    Just picked up the earliest type, with the DIVA AVG FAVSTINA obverse legend:

    Faustina Sr AETERNITAS Venus denarius DIVA AVG FAVSTINA.jpg
    Roman AR Denarius, 3.47 g, 18.1 mm, 6 h.
    Rome mint, under Antoninus Pius, AD 141-147.
    Obv: DIVA AVG FAVSTINA, bare-headed and draped bust right.
    Rev: AETER-NITAS, Goddess standing front, head right, right hand drawing back fold of veil and holding transverse scepter in left; the middle of her body is seen bare, sown with stars.
    Refs: RIC 346b; BMC 280-84; RSC 41; RCV --; CRE 145.
     
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  10. chrsmat71

    chrsmat71 I LIKE TURTLES!


    I have that obverse.

    100_0537_zpsky19edtb.jpg
     
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  11. lrbguy

    lrbguy Well-Known Member

    Ooooohh, I like yours much more than mine. On yours you can SEE the "stars" on her midriff. But also you can see the full length of the scepter, which kinda looks half length on mine.
     
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  12. Roman Collector

    Roman Collector Well-Known Member

    Yes, I'm quite happy with it!
     
  13. zumbly

    zumbly Ha'ina 'ia mai ana ka puana

    I just photographed this coin and read through this thread again. So has it been settled if the goddess depicted on the reverse should be identified as Aeternitas, Venus, or Britney Spears? Elsewhere (probably some acsearch entries), I've come across Urania being offered as a contender as well?

    Faustina Senior - Den Aeternitas sown with stars 3664.jpg
    FAUSTINA SENIOR
    AR Denarius. 3.59g, 19.1mm. Rome mint, after AD 146. RIC 351; Cohen 32; BMC 373. O: DIVA FAVSTINA, draped bust right. R: AETERNITAS, Goddess (Aeternitas, Venus, Urania?) standing facing, head left, holding veil and globe, midriff sown with stars.
     
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  14. Roman Collector

    Roman Collector Well-Known Member

    That particular reverse is usually taken as depicting Providentia.
     
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  15. Roman Collector

    Roman Collector Well-Known Member

    That's quite interesting, @zumbly , how her midriff is sown with stars. My example has no starry midriff:

    [​IMG]
    Faustina I, AD 138-141.
    Roman AR denarius, 3.26 g, 18.4 mm, 5 h.
    Rome, AD 147-161.
    Obv: DIVA FAV-STINA, bare-headed and draped bust, right.
    Rev: AETERNITAS, Providentia standing left, holding globe and grasping veil which billows behind her.
    Refs: RIC 351; BMCRE 373-381; Cohen/RSC 32; RCV 4578; CRE 121.

    Of the eight specimens, only two in the British Museum have stars, BMCRE 374 and 376:

    00664618_001_l.jpg

    00664620_001_l.jpg
     
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  16. zumbly

    zumbly Ha'ina 'ia mai ana ka puana

    I didn't count, but that ratio seems be close to what I found when I looked up acsearch. I wonder if the distinction means something. With globe but no stars = Providentia, with globe but stars = ?
     
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  17. lrbguy

    lrbguy Well-Known Member

    The star motif also appeared on the coin RC showed above with the Diva Aug Faustina obverse, which also comes with and without the stars (and right and left facing figure). At the surface there seems to be some kind of parallel pattern in all of that, but it needs to be fleshed out, so to speak.
     
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  18. Roman Collector

    Roman Collector Well-Known Member

    New information has led me to a complete reinterpretation of the reverse on the denarius with the billowing veil, such as @zumbly 's and this one from my collection ...

    Faustina Sr AETERNITAS Aeternitas globe and billowing veil denarius.jpg

    Now, two of the standard references (each authored by the same author, however, Harold Mattingly of the British Museum) tentatively identify the figure as Providentia. Here's the listing in RIC ...

    Faustina Sr AETERNITAS Aeternitas globe and billowing veil denarius RIC listing.JPG

    ... and in BMCRE:

    Faustina Sr AETERNITAS Aeternitas globe and billowing veil denarius BMC listing.JPG

    Temeryazev and Makarenko (p. 50) simply repeat Mattingly in attributing the figure to Providentia.

    However, as zumbly notes, it has also been attributed to Aeternitas and Urania. This apparently comes from Cohen (Earlier references, Wiczay and Sultzer for example, merely describe her as figura muliebris, "female figure"). Here is the listing in Cohen (see the description of nos. 30-32):

    Faustina Sr AETERNITAS Aeternitas globe and billowing veil Cohen listing.JPG

    Moreover, Dinsdale (p. 245, n. 5) notes that, in addition to Cohen's attribution, Strack considers the figure to be that of Aeternitas:

    Capture.JPG

    So, there has been considerable uncertainty about the figure's identity. Here's the new (to me) information that I think forces us to reconsider the identification of the figure as Providentia. I recently acquired the sestertius with this reverse type:

    Faustina Sr AETERNITAS Aeternitas globe and billowing veil sestertius.jpg
    Faustina I, AD 138-141.
    Roman orichalcum sestertius, 26.54 g, 33 mm.
    Rome, AD 150-161.
    Obv: DIVA FAVSTINA, bare-headed and draped bust, right.
    Rev: AETERNITAS, Aeternitas standing left, holding globe and raising above head a starry mantle.
    Refs: RIC 1106; BMCRE 1495-97; Cohen 30; Sear 4610; Strack 1262; Dinsdale 020810.

    I noticed that in RIC and BMCRE -- despite Mattingly's uncertainty about the identity of the figure on the denarius version of the coin -- the identity of the female figure on the sestertius is taken to be Aeternitas. Here's the listing in RIC ...

    Faustina Sr AETERNITAS Aeternitas globe and billowing veil sestertius RIC listing.JPG

    ... and in BMCRE:

    Faustina Sr AETERNITAS Aeternitas globe and billowing veil sestertius BMC listing.JPG

    Mattingly here unequivocally identifies the figure with Aeternitas, as did Cohen and Strack before him. Moreover, in his introduction to BMCRE4 (p. lxxxiii), he notes ...

    Faustina Sr AETERNITAS Aeternitas globe and billowing veil sestertius BMC introduction.JPG

    ... thus implying that the figure even on the denarius version be taken as Aeternitas.

    This, particularly in light of the fact that zumbly's coin shows a figure with stars on her midriff, is strong evidence that the coin's designer intended the figure to be Aeternitas, not just on the bronze versions of the coin, but on the denarius version as well. Therefore, the description of the coin at the BMC website or in RIC and BMCRE4 is likely wrong. I think it's Aeternitas.

    ~~~

    Cohen, Henry. Description historique des monnaies frappées sous l'Empire Romain, Tome III: de Marc Aurèle à Albin (161 à 197 après J.-C.). Paris, 1883.

    Dinsdale, Paul H. Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius Caesar AD 138-161: Antonine Coinage. Leeds, Paul H Dinsdale, 2018.

    Mattingly, Harold, Coins of the Roman Empire in the British Museum, vol. IV: Antoninus Pius to Commodus. Introduction, indexes and plates. London, BMP, 1968.

    Mattingly, Harold; Sydenham, Edward A, The Roman imperial coinage, vol. 3: Antoninus Pius to Commodus, London, Spink, 1986.

    Temeryazev, S. A., and T. P. Makarenko. The Coinage of Roman Empresses, Volume I: Antonia Minor – Didia Clara, 41 – 193 AD, San Bernardino, CreateSpace, an Amazon.com Company, 2017.
     
    Last edited: Dec 3, 2019
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  19. lrbguy

    lrbguy Well-Known Member

    Earlier in this discussion I had quoted the caveat from Mattingly, which I will repeat here:
    This seems pretty congruent with where you finally ended up.
     
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  20. Orielensis

    Orielensis Well-Known Member

    This is indeed a most worthwhile thread.

    My Faustina I "Aeternitas" sestertius shows a figure holding a globe (indicating Providentia), a sceptre (indicating Juno), and with bare midriff (better preserved examples show stars, thus indicating Aeternitas). RIC identifies her as Providentia, but in light of this thread I am beginning to doubt this interpretation.

    Rom – Faustina I, sesterz, Aeternitas.png
    Faustina I "the Elder," Roman Empire, AE sestertius, 141 AD, Rome mint. Obv: DIVA AVGUSTA FAVSTINA; draped bust of Faustina I r. Rev: AETERNITAS; Providentia (?) standing l. holding globe and sceptre; in fields flanking, S-C. 31mm, 21.11g. Ref: RIC III Antoninus Pius 1108a. Ex Ken Dorney (ceterum censeo Kynetum esse referendum).
     
  21. Al Kowsky

    Al Kowsky Well-Known Member

    This has been an entertaining & enlightening thread :D. It's also a good demonstration when experienced minds combine resources even obscure answers can be found ;).
     
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