Holy Schmokes!! => a coin or two per day?!! ... you're gonna burn-out, man!! (you're fricken hooked on coin-crack!!) Oh, but don't get me wrong, my coin-friend => I love watching you buy stuff!! => congrats on another sweet OP-winner ... Faustina-II, eh? (nice choice) I have a comfy ol' AE Sestertius and a fairly sweet AR Denarius ... wanna see? Faustina II AE Sestertius Rome Mint 128-175 AD Diameter: 31 mm Weight: 23.72 grams Obverse: FAVSTINA AVGVSTA, draped bust right wearing circlet of pearls Reverse: Reverse: IVNONI REGINAE S-C, Juno, veiled, standing left, holding patera & scepter; peacock standing left at feet, head reverted Reference: RIC 165 Other: fricken comfy lookin' Faustina II (Junior), Augusta, AR Denarius Struck under Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus, AD 161-164 AD 147-175 Rome mint Diameter: 18 mm Weight: 3.35 grams Obverse: Draped bust right, wearing stephane Reverse: Draped and ornamented throne on which are two infant boys Reference: RIC III 712 (Aurelius); MIR 18, 27-4b Diad.; RSC 191 Other: 12h … sweetly toned and great flow-lines From the Dr. George Spradling Collection
Steve: I am way behind you guys/gals, so I am trying to catch up! I ONLY have 120 or so ancients in my collection, all others 550+ are 1200AD to present day. The nice thing about the Imperial AR coinage types, they are so affordable compared to the Aurei that go for 40K+ a pop! for cheaper emperors...
Rome wasn't built in a day ... just make sure you don't piss-off your wife and get greedy (I'm just sayin') => oh, but it must be nice stretchin' your legs and tackling some yardwork, eh?
wow again! faustina looks really pretty in on that one...kind of hot. so what is venus holding in her left hand? a shield? here's a nice bargain bin sestertius of her i have..
Lol... way behind, yeah, right. I have 5 ancients total, lol. Here's my Faustina I: Diva Faustina Sr AR Denarius. Obverse: DIVA FAVSTINA, draped bust right. Reverse:AVG-VSTA, Ceres, veiled, standing left, holding torch & raising robe. Weight: 2.81g. Diameter: 16.7mm. Ref: RIC 362.
Absolutely flawless denarius---GORGEOUS!!! @panzerman ....and Paul's is nearly as good-----mine a 'tad' less so P-Man, You sound a bit like I did when I returned to collecting a year and a half ago (sold off virtually all before then) but with a bigger budget LOL I'll post a sestertius of Faustina II for variety:
very nice panzer! great detail on that one... only 120 you say! thats double what i got! heres my Faustina jr. Faustina Jr. wife of Marcus Aurelius, silver denarius,. 164 AD. Obverse : FAUSTINA AUGUSTA - draped bust right, hair in waves. Reverse : FECUNDITAS - Fecunditas standing front, head right, holding scepter and child. The infant on the reverse may be seen as Commodus. 18.25mm 2.5g RIC III 677
That is a nice coin and Faustina II was wife of Emperor Marcus Aurelius but this particular one list her as daughter of Antoninus Pius (obverse legend). A collection of this empress really needs three coins of which this is the first. You need a coin showing her as wife of Marcus Aurelius and the a posthumous coin. Of course there are many types for each of the three periods. The 'as wife' coins will not have legends referring to her as 'PII AVG FIL'. Posthumous coins will have DIVA legends: Of course you might not want to add coins 2 and 3 while there are a thousand other types on the want list and you might want to keep an eye out for really special examples to fill those slots. My definition of special is probably different than yours but the I hope you will choose coins that are special to you like this first one really should be. It is an excellent portrait and the reverse is good for her young and beautiful years. It is not hard to find coins of Faustina II that make her look really bad.
Wonderfull posts, writeups....I am learning a lot about these beautifull ancients. I had devoted 90% of my time/$budget on World gold coinages/esp.Medieval/Renaissance/Baroque eras. Since joining your forum, I now will go 50/50. Back to Faustina II, thankfully this pretty woman married a NICE emperor, would have been so sad, to have her married to thugs like Caracalla/Septimus Severus/Nero/Caligula.... There is a Noma auction, with an FDC denarius of Paulina Diva....WOW big price for that Empress/ wife of Maximinus Thrax.
