After looking their images up online.... I concur. Though, I barely remember watching reruns of this at my grandmother's house a few decades ago. So it's possible that I miss the actress that plays gingers Je ne sais quoi.
I wonder if when you posted this, just for a second, @Bing thought, "Did somebody just call my name?"
I don't understand how anyone can conceive of "fine style" if you don't believe the obvious that it is Maryann! I do agree that the really nice toning gives the first coin a special quality, but I would not call it fine style. I agree with Donna that it appears almost "caricaturish". Look at the way his lips and mouth are rendered. His head also looks a bit misshapen. I also prefer denarius #2. That said, here's mine in which he looks like he has no teeth!
Sometimes it seems like fine style means weird or unusual style not necessarily more artistic or attractive.I think the first coin looks like an unattractive older man who was maybe even a little odd looking. Maybe it is a more realistic portrait than the others. Once he became emperor they picked a man who looks like the second or third portraits to play him in a Hollywood movie.