Undecided: should I buy it or not - need some help with identification

This coin is offered by an online seller as part of a large group of coins. I cropped out the other coins (which I have no interest in), and combined the obverse and reverse (so that explains the poor picture quality). So far, however, I've been unable to ID it:

The obverse seems to read (but I'm not sure!) "DIVAAVG ......", and the reverse PIETASAVG, with Pietas sacrificing on an altar.

The busts looks a bit like the DIVA Faustina I denarius, however, these show pietas with raised hands (an example shown here: https://www.cointalk.com/threads/scarce-faustina-i-denarius.356243/)


So which empress do we see here? Any help is appreciated

 

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update: well... I think I found it

 

The OP coin is Faustina I, issued posthumously by Antoninus Pius. The veiled bust version, like that coin, is RIC 395c(b), RSC 236.

Pietas was a very common reverse type for Faustina I. At least ten different denarii[1] feature Pietas, if you count variations in the attitude of the deity, the inscriptions and the bust types. She is always depicted with an altar at her feet. Most frequently, the altar is cylindrical in shape, such as:


Faustina I, AD 138-141.
Roman AR denarius, 2.72 g, 18 mm, 7 h.
Rome, AD 140-144.
Obv: DIVA AVG FAVSTINA, veiled and draped bust, right.
Rev: Pietas, veiled and draped, standing left, dropping incense on lighted altar with right hand and holding box in left hand.
Refs: RIC 394b var. (denarius); BMCRE 311-314 var. (bust); RSC 234a; Strack 428; RCV --; CRE 120.

Apparently, Pietas is an anthropomorphic lioness!

But the altar is depicted as a "candelabrum" on two issues, a bare-headed version and a veiled bust version (the OP coin). I only have the bare-headed bust version of this coin. Being the Faustina freak that I am, it surprises me that I have never posted this coin at CT before. Making her debut here at CT, would you give a warm welcome to Pietas and her candelabrum!


Faustina I, AD 138-141.
Roman AR denarius, 3.47 g, 19.0 mm, 12 h.
Rome, AD 140-44.
Obv: DIVA AVG FAVSTINA, veiled and draped bust, right.
Rev: Pietas, veiled and draped, standing left, dropping incense on lighted candelabrum with right hand and holding box in left hand.
Refs: RIC 395c(a); BMCRE 315-17; RSC/Cohen 237; Strack 429; RCV --; CRE 117.

We know from die-linkage studies of the corresponding aureii[2] that these coins with the PIETAS reverse inscription and with Pietas sacrificing over an altar or candelabrum were part of the first phase of issues for the newly deceased Faustina and deal with her funeral and deification. An aureus with this reverse of Pietas sacrificing over a candelabrum appears muled with an aureus of Antoninus Pius bearing the inscription ANTONINVS AVG PIVS PP TR P COS III, establishing a date of AD 140-144 with certainty.[3] Dinsdale (ibid), dates this first phase to AD 140-143.

~~~

1. RSC 124, 124a, 234, 234a, 234b, 236, 237, 251, 251a, 251b.
2. Dinsdale, Paul H. Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius Caesar AD 138-161: Antonine Coinage. Leeds, Paul H Dinsdale, 2018, p. 214.
3. Beckmann, Martin. Diva Faustina: Coinage and Cult in Rome and the Provinces. American Numismatic Society, 2012, p. 7.

 

Thanks @Roman Collector for the extensive write-up! Unfortunately, just when I ID"d the coin, the seller sold it to someone else ...

 

Sorry you lost the opportunity. The veiled bust types are in high demand and sell quickly if the price is right. I'm still looking for an example of that coin, too.