These are some of my favorite types of ancients to hold in hand. You really feel the years between your fingers and your imagination just runs away with itself. But that allure also gives way to more mystery as they can be tricky to get a spot on identification for. I purchased this fun "slightly" used Faustina II last week: Listed simply as: Faustina Junior Æ Sestertius. Rome, AD 147-150. Condition: Very Fine Weight: 20,68 gr Diameter: 32,20 mm (Oh, let's be honest, much like the stories of the Faustinas this coin has been held by many a man) as I thought the reverse was "Diana standing left, holding arrow in right hand and bow" Like these(borrowed from AC search): But now I am not so sure. She has lots of these types of sests with varying goddesses on the reverse, all in the same pose but holding different implements (also borrowed from AC search): Venus standing left, holding apple and anchor around which a dolphin is coiled Venus standing left, holding apple and scepter Concordia standing facing, head left, drawing out fold of her drapery, holding cornucopia. Venus standing left, holding apple in her raised right hand and cradling swaddled infant in her left arm, Venus standing left, holding apple and scepter Venus mit Viktoria u. Schild auf Helm. (holding victory and shield) Oh, Faustina II you trixy trollip you Any Faustina lovers out there that can help? Please post your frosty Fausti's, thoughts and help me figure out (if possible) who is on the reverse and what they are holding!
How did I miss this thread?! Too busy working from home yesterday, I guess! It has the earliest obverse legend, FAVSTINAE AVG PII AVG FIL, so that narrows it down a lot. The only types with this obverse legend and a standing female deity are: CONCORDIA (which you've posted) HILARITAS (Cohen 114) Wildwinds specimen: IVNONI LVCINAE (Cohen 133) LAETITIAE PVBLICAE (BMCRE 2139-41; stephane 2139-40, strand of pearls 2141) British Museum specimen: VENERI GENETRICI (which you've posted) VENVS (BMC 2147-50, which you've posted) with the apple and resting hand on rudder coiled by dolphin. You can scratch off all the other ones you've posted because they were issued later (pay attention to FAVSTINAE vs. FAVSTINA and AVG vs. AVGVSTA). I don't think it's VENERI GENETRICI because I have never seen this reverse combined with a bust that was not wearing the stephane. I'm not convinced that IVNONI LVCINAE (Cohen 133) actually exists as described and Cohen may have made a mistake with the legends. I've never seen an example, even after an exhaustive internet search, though Strack cites examples in Paris (the Cohen specimen) and Vienna (neither posted online). It's Strack 1299 and he notes a band of pearls on the obverse bust, not mentioned by Cohen (who typically doesn't mention this). I think I can see a hint of a transverse scepter on yours and I'm going with Laetitia.
Thanks so much RC! I'm certainly out of my depth in this area, but do love coins of the empresses. I had no idea that it was the earliest obverse legend. Very cool! I was leaning towards Venus with rudder due largely to what I think is her toga. Though that same design is on the Laetitia. I agree with you. Im leaning towards Laetitia now. Hopefully in hand I can say for certain.
Now I'm going with the Venus and rudder after looking at it some more. I wish I could see it in hand. I don't have the sestertius version of this coin, but I do have a dupondius:
