This is a new arrival to my Numophylacium Faustinae. I purchased it because it depicts the empress wearing the stephane,* an example of which was lacking in my collection on a denarius of this particular reverse type. The Laetitia reverse type was large issue, issued under Marcus Aurelius AD 161-164, which I have previously discussed. The issue possibly refers to the birth of M. Annius Verus in AD 162, but this is far from certain. This reverse type was used for the aureus, denarius, sestertius and middle bronze denominations. Not only may the empress appear bare-headed, wearing a single or double strand of pearls, or a stephane, but Laetitia may appear standing right or left, with mirror-image reverse types. In the denarius denomination, the stephaned bust is the more commonly encountered in the market, though none of the bust types are particularly hard to come by. This denarius is darkly toned, almost black, which is not how most of us like our silver. But the portrait is of fine style and the coin is well-centered and pleasing. I like it! Paint it black!! Let's see your darkly toned silver, stephaned empresses, Laetitia issues, or anything you feel is relevant! Faustina II, AD 147-175. Roman AR denarius, 3.41 g, 18.7 mm, 11 h. Rome, AD 161-164. Obv: FAVSTINA AVGVSTA, draped bust right, wearing stephane. Rev: LAETITIA, Laetitia standing facing, head left, holding wreath and scepter. Refs: RIC 701; BMCRE 129-131; Cohen 148; RCV --; MIR 21-4/10b diad.; CRE 198. *I am in the process of writing a more comprehensive article about the stephane on Roman coins. Stay tuned!
Interesting coin and nice writeup, RC. Here is my only Faustina Junior with stephane. I recalled seeing a Roman coin, possibly from Julia Domna or on a Sestertius, that shows some designs (I forget if it is a wave design or dot) on the stephane. Looking forward to RC's future writeup on the topic.
Although most of the denarii in my collection have the usual shiny silver surfaces from cleaning by others, hopefully they will gradually re-tone to the natural dull surface that I much prefer. Here are three (moderately) toned Severan denarii: Septimius Severus, Denarius, RIC Vol. IV, No. 335 Caracalla, Denarius, RIC Vol. IV, No. 231a Geta, Denarius, RIC Vol. IV, No. 91
