Left facing Ladies

I have a big soft spot for LFL, left facing ladies. I know the left facing portrait is not much of a difference overall, but I fancy them all the same!
I don't think there is a definitive answer as to why there are a few Lefts in the sea of Right facing portraits. Is it a die cutter mistake, a fancy whim to do something different, did it have a meaning? I'm sure it also depends on the time frame they were struck. The Roman Republic seems to have more left facing as well as Probus and later 3rd century coins.
So show me your LFL! (okay.. or LFM's )

 

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A very nice group of coins.

 

Pretty nice coins, I have none that face left

 

Some great coins, Robin.

I admit I have no left facers featuring ladies, considering all the ladies I do own.

 

I LOVE your LFLs @arizonarobin! Some real beauties right there...yowza!!
A trickier request than I initially took it for. Just like the bar at last call, I was scrambling to see if there were any ladies left
A LFL nymph...

Dionysios I
Sicily, Syracuse
Æ Hemilitron, circa 405-400 BC. Head of Arethusa left; laurel branch behind / Dolphin right; cockle shell below, ΣVPA between. CNS 24; SNG ANS 417; HGC 2, 1480. 3.63g, 18mm

Artemis is such a bee!

Ionia, Ephesos. Ae (c.375-325 BC). Female head (Artemis?) left, wearing stephane. / E - Φ, Bee .(9mm-1.04g). SNG von Aulock 1839; SNG Copenhagen 256; BMC 68. Former Kairos Numismatik

Funny how many are Greek. Though the Greeks were known to have left their ladies

A bit of a cheat, I know. But you get 2 LFLs and only 1 righty.

Mysia. Lampsakos
circa 500-450 BC.
Obol AR
7mm., 0,77g.
Female janiform head / Helmeted head of Athena left within incuse square
very fine. SNG BnF 1128-31.

 

Only one I've got is the female personification of Italia



Marsic Confederation. 91-88 BC. AR Denarius (21mm, 3.75 g). Bovianum(?) mint, struck 89 BC.

Obverse: Laureate head of Italia left; VITELIV ( = ITALIA) retrograde in Oscan script behind.

Reverse: Soldier standing facing, head right, left foot on lorica, holding inverted spear in right hand and sword in left; to right, recumbent bull facing, head right; I in exergue.

Reference: Campana group 9b, 141 (D97/R118).

Provenance: Roma Numismatics Auction XVI (26 September 2018), lot 537. Ex Bolaffi Spa, Auction 29 (30 November 2016), lot 80.

 

@Orfew Thank you

@panzerman I'm surprised! I see more left facing on Aureus portraits.

@Mat I thought you might have a couple with our shared love of the ladies!

 

I love the Arethusa coin, I have one as well. It has two of my favorite things- a left facing lady and a dolphin!

 

This a called cheating, but its a old lady facing left. from the House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha/ Victoria/ won from Heritage auction.

 

Perhaps superstition ? In Roman augury, or fortune telling, birds that appeared on the left side were interpreted as being bad luck. Petronius, a friend of the emperor Nero, when he wrote Satyricon, talked about Trimalchio, who organized a party and had a slave only for the purpose of preventing his guests from entering the triclinium with the left foot first....

 

Hey, I was gonna use her! Now I have to actually think or something.

 

OK, I've thought, lol.

Venus:



Tanit:


Phil Davis

 

Well, this has been an eye-opener....for me. I just went through the 1161 Roman coins on my web site and, by golly, not a single left facing female, excluding Roma and Constantinople representations! Greek and Roman Provincial, yes, but not Roman! Neat niche.

 

An interesting theme and some very nice LFL's, @arizonarobin! I was surprised by how deep I had to dig to find one. A Roman Republican Venus of Considia 7 from a turbulent time of civil war:

Considius Paetus, AR denarius, 46 BC.
Obv: PAETI, laureate head of Venus left
Rev: Victory in quadriga left, C CONSIDI in
Size: 3.49g, 19.3-20.0mm
Ref: Syd 993, Cr465/4, BMC 4090.

 

Lovely lefty ladies, @arizonarobin ! Those are some rarities!

I agree that it's unusual to see a left-facing bust on a Roman Imperial issue prior to the mid 3rd century AD. This, for example, is my only left-facing Roman empress. It is a variant that is not recorded in Sear, Cohen, or RIC:


Faustina Jr, under Antoninus Pius, 147-161
Roman AE middle bronze
11.10 gm; 25.3 mm
Obv: FAVSTINA AVG PII AVG FIL, bare-headed and draped bust, left.
Rev: IVNO SC, Juno seated left, holding the three graces and scepter; at feet, peacock.
Refs: RIC 1400 (bust var. (facing left)); BMCRE 2188A, p.380; Cohen 128 (bust var. (facing left)).

I believe it is an obverse die match (different reverse die) to the specimen in the British Museum:

 

I wonder if left-facing portraits could be nothing more than the product of left-handed celators?
anyway, here are a few... 2 from Teanum , Republican Aes grave triens, RR den, Baebia, and Nero's mom - Agrippina (before the matricide).

 

I am realizing I don't have that many left facing ladies... Here are my 2 favorites.

 

SINISTER WOMEN of the ROMAN REPUBLIC:


RR Saturninus 104 BC Roma Saturn hldng Sickle Quad 2 dots-V S 193 Cr 317-3a var



RR Servius Rullus 100 BCE AR Den Minerva Victory Biga S 207 Cr 328-1



Minerva - RR Anon AE Litra 270-269 BCE S 592 Cr 17-1a



RR Baebius of Tampilus (2) 137 BCE AR Den Roma LEFT Apollo Quad S 113 Cr 236-1a

 

SINISTER WOMEN of CARTHAGE

(I have around 50 of Tanit facing left - here are a few)


Carthage AE Trishekel Tanit Horse 220-215 BCE 2nd Punic War 30mm 19.7g Lot 36



Carthage 300-264 BCE AR 2/3-Shekel Tanit-Horse Sear6491 SNG COP143 var-tile



Bruttium Carthage occup 2nd Punic War AR Half-Shekel 216-211 Tanit Horse SOLAR-O HN Italy 2016 SNG Cop 361-3



Carthage Zeugitania after 241 DIshekel AE 27 10.8g Libyan Revolt Tanit - Horse r palm MAA 45 SNG Cop 253 scarce



Zeugitania Carthage 400-350 BCE Æ unit 15.3 mm, 2.7g Tanit l earring necklace - Horse r palm tree two pellets r MAA 18a



Zeugitania Carthage 400-350 BCE Æ unit 15.3 mm, 2.7g Tanit l earring necklace - Horse r palm tree two pellets r MAA 18a



Carthage 300-264 BCE AE 19 Sardinia 19mm 5.62g Tanit wreathed Horse hd r ayin SNG COP 151 JP Righetti collection



Carthage Zeugitania AR ½ Shekel 17mm 3.8g 2nd Punic War 218-202 BC Sicily mint 216-211 BC Tanit l Horse r sun as double uraeus SNG COP 359

 

I never knew there where sinister women in Carthage