Faustina as with (unlisted?) obverse inscription variety

Flyspecking, I know. Nonetheless, I welcome your comments or any similar coins you'd like to share.

I have a pair of bronze coins of Faustina II issued under Antoninus Pius and depicting Diana standing left, holding arrow and resting on bow.

The sestertius is known with a variety of obverse inscriptions:

FAVSTINA AVG PII AVG FIL (BMCRE group III)
FAVSTINA AVGVSTA AVG PII FIL
FAVSTINA AVGVSTA AVG PII F

The third of these is noted under "rare obverse types" in BMCRE, pp. 381-2. The sestertius with this legend is assigned no. 2194:



This is the example from my collection:



And here is the BMC specimen:


On the basis of the spacing and shapes of the letters in the obverse inscription, mine is a die-match to the British Museum specimen:



So, that inscription is described for the sestertius. HOWEVER, the middle bronze is only described in Cohen, RIC and BMCRE with these two inscriptions:

FAVSTINA AVG PII AVG FIL (BMCRE group III)
FAVSTINA AVGVSTA AVG PII FIL (see note p. 382 after no. 2194).

Yet this example from my collection clearly reads FAVSTINA AVGVSTA AVG PII F, as on the corresponding sestertius, above; it is therefore unlisted in BMCRE and RIC:



A search at acsearch info reveals two additional specimens, one struck from the same pair of dies as mine (Teutoberger specimen):



And a specimen sold by Heritage Europe, struck from a different pair of dies (which is the exact same coin sold by Numis.Be):



This particular variant appears to be scarce, if not rare.

 

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Update: I have found five additional specimens of the middle bronze with the FAVSTINA AVGVSTA AVG PII F legend.

One sold by Busso Peus:



One sold by Bolaffi:



One sold by Saint Paul, which is an obverse die-match to my coin:



And one sold by Timeline:



And one misattributed to RIC 1405c at Wildwinds:



Interestingly, I can find no examples online, such as at acsearchinfo, OCRE, Coin Project, or Wildwinds that have the FAVSTINA AVGVSTA AVG PII FIL obverse legend (RIC 1405c, C 211). The British Museum does not have a copy of my coin or of RIC 1405c/Cohen 211, but does mention in a note after the listing for the sestertius I posted in the OP, BMCRE 2194, that Cohen 210 and 211 have the longer legend ending in FIL.



Similarly, RIC cites Cohen 211 in its listing for 1405c:





And here's Cohen's original listing for the sestertius (210) and the middle bronze (211). Note that the French national collection did not have an example of the middle bronze among its holdings at the time and that he cites a sale catalog (Moustier):



Because all of the examples of this middle bronze read FAVSTINA AVGVSTA AVG PII F, and none read ... PII FIL, I believe that Cohen erroneously transcribed the obverse legend of the coin sold by Moustier.

In short, RIC 1405c and C 211 are in error and coins with the longer legend ending in PII FIL do not exist.

 

Here's my 2194

 

Lovely patina on that one!

 

Interesting observation, I have to look for one of these.

Beside the legend, it is also interessting to have a look at the hair styles. Here are two examples with the usual legend FAVSTINA AVG PII AVG FIL but two different hairstyles.


Faustina II
Dupondius or As, AD 145-161
Obv.: FAVSTINA AVG PII AVG FIL, draped bust right
Rev.: S - C, Diana standing left with bow and arrow.
AE, 12.4g, 26mm
Ref.: RIC 1405 (a) [C]
This coin was found in 2006 close to the Fleischstraße in Trier, Germany. The find was presented to the Landesmuseum (State Museum).



Faustina II
Dupondius, Rome mint, AD 154-156
Obv.: FAVSTINA AVG PII AVG FIL, draped bust right, head bare, hair waived and coiled on back of head
Rev.: S-C, Diana standing facing, head left, examining arrow in right hand, resting left hand on grounded bow, S - C flanking across below center field
AE, 11.83g, 26.0mm
Ref.: RIC III 1405a

 

I, too, enjoy studying the changes in Faustina's coiffure over the course of the various issues. I believe they represent changes over time and not different officinae. Not surprisingly, coins such as this with the group IV inscription have hairstyles seen on those with the group III inscription and the group V inscription.

Those are lovely examples of coins with Mattingly's group IV inscription, FAVSTINA AVG PII AVG FIL. The Trier Landesmuseum specimen has a hairstyle similar to the portraits on coins with the group III inscription, FAVSTINA AVG ANTONINI AVG PII FIL, such as this one from my collection:


Faustina II, AD 147-175.
Roman AR Denarius, 2.84 g, 18.5 mm, 6 h.
Rome, AD 150-152, under Antoninus Pius.
Obv: FAVSTINA AVG ANTONINI AVG PII FIL, bare-headed and draped bust right.
Rev: CONCORDIA, Concordia standing facing, head left, holding skirt and cornucopiae.
Refs: RIC III 501 (Pius); BMCRE 1078 note (Pius); Cohen/RSC 46; RCV --; CRE 166; ERIC II --.

The bottom example has a hairstyle seen on coins with the group V inscription, FAVSTINA AVGVSTA AVG PII F (or FIL), such as my OP coin and others from my collection:


Faustina II, AD 147-175/6.
Roman Æ as, 9.80 g, 24.1 mm, 6 h.
Rome, AD 154-156.
Obv: FAVSTINA AVGVST-TA AVG PII F, bare-headed and draped bust, right.
Rev: S C, Diana standing left, holding arrow and resting on bow.
Refs: RIC 1405c*; Cohen 211*; BMC --; RCV --.
Notes: *RIC and Cohen erroneously report the inscription reads "... PII FIL".



Faustina II, Augusta AD 147-175, issued under Antoninus Pius
Roman AR denarius; 2.82 g, 17 mm, 6 h
Rome, AD 154-156.
Obv: FAVSTINA AVGVSTA AVG PII F, bare-headed and draped bust right
Rev: PVDICITIA, Pudicitia standing left, sacrificing over lit altar to left
Refs: RIC 508a; BMCRE 1092; Cohen 184; RCV 4707; CRE 207.

It comes as no surprise that coins bearing the group VI inscription, FAVSTINA AVGVSTA (obverse) and AVGVSTA PII FIL (reverse), have the same hairstyle as those with the group V hairstyle. See these examples from my collection:



Faustina II, AD 147-175/6.
Roman AR denarius, 3.27 g, 17.8 mm, 7 h.
Rome, AD 157-161.
Obv: FAVSTINA AVGVSTA, bare-headed and draped bust, right.
Rev: AVGVSTA PII FIL, Venus standing left, holding Victory on right hand and resting left hand on shield set on helmet.
Refs: RIC 495a; BMCRE 1099-1101; Cohen/RSC 15; RCV 4700; CRE 224.



Faustina II, AD 147-175/6.
Roman orichalcum sestertius, 29.89 g, 31.0 mm, 6 h.
Rome, AD 157-161.
Obv: FAVSTINA AVGVSTA, bare-headed and draped bust, right.
Rev: AVGVSTI PII FIL S C, Concordia standing left, holding patera and cornucopia (and leaning on column?).
Refs: Strack III 1328.

 

My example is a bit worn, so the legend has to be assumed:

 

Update: I did the same search for the corresponding sestertius, which RIC claims comes with three obverse inscriptions:

FAVSTINA AVGVSTA AVG PII F (RIC 1383a; BMCRE 2194 -- legend (2))
FAVSTINA AVG PII AVG FIL (RIC 1383b; BMCRE 2180-84 -- legend (3))
FAVSTINA AVGVSTA AVG PII FIL (RIC 1383c -- legend (5))




As was the case with the corresponding middle bronze, RIC cites Cohen for two of the three varieties, Cohen 206 and 210.



Cohen 206 bears legend 3, FAVSTINA AVG PII AVG FIL and Cohen 210 bears legend 5, FAVSTINA AVGVSTA PII AVG FIL.

I have looked in the usual places, such as acsearchinfo, OLCE, the British Museum collection, and Wildwinds (no specimens at all) and I find numerous examples of RIC 1383a (legend 2) and of RIC 1383b (legend 3), but not a single example of RIC 1383c (legend 5).

This is the same situation I encountered for the corresponding middle bronze described in detail above. That Cohen cites the French national collection notwithstanding, I believe Cohen 210/RIC 1383c does not exist AS DESCRIBED. I believe Cohen intended to write FAVSTINA AVGVSTA AVG PII F for the entry for 210 but there was a mistake somewhere along the way, resulting in the propagation of an error for more than a century.

There are only two obverse inscriptions for the bronze coins with this reverse design:

(1) An earlier issue bearing FAVSTINA AVG PII AVG FIL (Mattingly group IV)* and (2) a later issue bearing FAVSTINA AVGVSTA AVG PII F (Mattingly group V).

*I erred in my OP (over a year ago) in calling this legend "BMCRE group III"; it's group IV. I apologize for any confusion engendered by the mistake.

 

Cool!! @Ken Dorney ! Is that a sestertius or a dupondius?

 

Sestertius. 33mm, 27.24 grams.