This coin was likely issued AD 143-145 to commemorate the dedication of the Temple to Diva Faustina in Rome. Among the various types issued during this period there was a series of gold and silver coins issued with anepigraphic reverse types. As with all coins issued from the time of Faustina I's death in November, AD 140 through AD 145, the coins bear the longer DIVA AVG FAVSTINA obverse inscription, the shorter DIVA FAVSTINA inscription being used thereafter. This is the only anepigraphic reverse type issued in the denarius denomination. The series also includes two aurei (RIC 405 and 406A), depicting Faustina climbing into a biga and a hexastyle temple, respectively, two gold quinarii (RIC 407 and Strack 440), depicting a peacock walking right and a throne, respectively, and a silver quinarius (Strack 440), with the same throne reverse type. With the exception of the silver denarius type in my collection, all of these other types are exceedingly rare. The denarius type was issued with two bust varieties: a bare-headed portrait and a veiled and stephaned portrait. The veiled and stephaned version is the scarcer of the two, but not unobtainable for the average collector. The reverse features a veiled and draped Ceres standing right and holding a vertical scepter in her right hand and two corn-ears in her left. Faustina I, AD 138-140. Roman AR denarius, 2.74 g, 17.6 mm, 7 h. Rome, AD 143-145. Obv: DIVA AVG FAVSTINA, bare-headed and draped bust, right. Rev: Anepigraphic; Ceres, veiled and draped, standing right, holding vertical scepter in right hand and two corn-ears in left hand. Refs: RIC 404B; BMCRE 327; Cohen 297; RCV 4602; Strack 436; CRE 79. The coin is an double die-match to the specimen in the Museu Arqueològic de Llíria. Post anything you feel is relevant!
Thanks for your post, @Roman Collector . I had to think for a minute but then I remembered that I have one of her daughter’s bronze provincials—Faustina the Younger.
