Worn but beautiful Sabina

This lady arrived today. She was part of my buying spree last week. She certainly has seen some use in her day but I think her portrait, worn as it is, is still beautiful. For the price, I couldn't say no. She's pretty hefty too, at 32mm and 26.3g.

I believe it is this one...but I'm not 100% sure:
SABINA AVGVSTA HADRIANI AVG P P, draped bust right with hair coiled on top of head / SC in ex, Vesta seated left, holding Palladium & scepter
Wildwinds Link


What are you thoughts?

Let's see some of your worn but still beautiful coins!

 

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Worn and holed

 

Still a great looking portrait!

I need to get me a Hadrian sestertius to match her now.

 

Very nice! She's a cutie (throughly enjoy the opulent Empress look).
Here's mine:

 

Nice one @furryfrog02 ! I was watching that on eBay and was very, very tempted. From the same seller, I got this one - it is quite worn, but I was very interested in the unusual reverse type (and the price was right!):


Trajan Æ Sestertius
(103-111 / 112-117 A.D.)
Rome Mint
[IMP CAES NERVAE] TRAIANO AVG GER DAC P[M TRP COS (V or VI) P P], laureate bust r. / [SPQR OPTIMO PRINCIPI] S-C, Abundantia standing l., with corn-ears & cornucopiae, child left, ALIM ITA[L] in exergue.
RIC 459 (V) or RIC 604 (VI).
(26.00 grams / 32 mm)

Notes: "This coin celebrates the Alimentia, a public loan program intended to aid orphans and other needy children. The state loaned money to farmers to purchase land, the interest being used to feed the children. The program was initiated by Nerva and greatly expanded by Trajan."
(Wildwinds)

 

Me too! We have a distinct lack of empresses in the collection. Certainly none with as fancy a hairstyle as hers.

 

That is a great looking Trajan!
This seller has had some really tempting coins in my price range. I missed out on a Trajan they were selling as well as a Nerva but I purchased another after this one and it should hopefully be here by the end of the week.

 

Yes indeed, he has been selling some pretty interesting sestertii, etc. at quite reasonable (for eBay) buy-it-now prices. I have a pair of Philip I big AEs from Alexandria coming in. For everything else I've been too slow on the trigger, or its something I already have.

 

I don't know if it is beautiful, but I've always kind of liked this worn likely unlisted MA provincial.

 

I like it

 

Very attractive lived-in coin - I love this style portrait! Here's my smaller dupondius, also with some healthy wear:

 

That is a great portrait!

 

I love the feel and heft of a well-used sestertius in hand! That coin is a testament to the prosperity of the second century. Think of all the transactions that coin made, the hands it passed through. It's mind-boggling.

Here are some well-circulated favorites in my collection:


Antoninus Pius, AD 138-161.
Roman orichalcum sestertius, 22.64 gm, 31.5 mm, 12 h.
Rome, AD 149.
Obv: ANTONINVS AVG PIVS P P TR P XII, laureate bust right, slight drapery on left shoulder.
Rev: TEMPORVM FELICITAS, COS IIII in exergue, S C across field, crossed cornucopiae from which a grape bunch flanked by two grain ears hang, surmounted by confronted busts of two children.
Refs: RIC 857; BMCRE 1827-29; Cohen 813; RCV 4236; Strack 1026; Banti 411.


Faustina Senior, AD 138-141.
Roman orichalcum sestertius, 24.57 g, 32.0 mm.
Rome, AD 145-147.
Obv: DIVA FAVSTINA, bare-headed and draped bust, right.
Rev: AVGVSTA S C, Vesta veiled, standing left, holding palladium and scepter.
Refs: RIC 1124; BMCRE 1519-20; Cohen 110 = 122 corr.; Strack 1294; RCV 4617.
Notes: Cohen 122 (Wiczay): "Concordia? standing l., holding statuette and wand," (La Concorde? debout à gauche, tenant une statuette et une baguette) is almost certainly a badly described specimen of this type.


Marcus Aurelius, AD 161-180.
Roman orichalcum sestertius, 21.36 g, 29.5 mm, 12 h.
Rome, AD 173.
Obv: M ANTONINVS AVG TR P XXVII, head of Marcus Aurelius, laureate, right.
Rev: RESTITVTORI ITALIAE IMP VI COS III, Marcus Aurelius, in military dress, standing left, holding vertical spear in left hand and clasping right hands with Italia kneeling right before him, holding globe in left hand; SC in exergue.
Refs: RIC 1077; BMCRE 1449-1450; Cohen 538; RCV 4997; MIR 259.


Faustina II, AD 147-175.
Roman oricalchum sestertius, 22.36 gm, 33.7 mm, 12 h.
Rome, December AD 160.
Obv: FAVSTINA AVGVSTA, bare-headed and draped bust, right.
Rev: FECVND AVGVSTAE S C, (Faustina as) Fecunditas standing left, between two children (thought to represent Faustina III and Lucilla), holding two infants in her arms (thought to represent Fadilla and Cornificia).
Refs: RIC 1635; BMCRE 902-904; Cohen 96; Strack 1336; RCV 5273; MIR 10.

 

I agree @Roman Collector ! Give me a well worn coin any day over a mint state one. Just the history it has seen makes it worth so much more in my eyes.

 

While holding this worn coin, I also imagine people buying bread with it during the Byzantine times. I guess such feeling is one reason why I like ancient coins.

 

Coins showing Sabina with her hair up in back are a great deal scarcer than the ones with her hair down (like the only one I have*) -- and are much more flattering to her, I think -- and tend to be quite expensive. So I really admire your coin!

* Mine, with hair down, also rather worn:

 

This coin kicked my butt. I simply can't attribute it properly. After a deep dive into the Wildwinds pages of pretty much every Empress, I landed upon Sabina due to the hairstyle.

Great reverse with Athena doesn't hurt.

 

Nice one, @furryfrog02. Nothing like a hefty sestertius which has been put to good use, as intended by the coin gods. I've also always liked that hairstyle for Sabina.

Here's one of hubby's, well-used too, but in Alexandria rather than Rome.


HADRIAN
AE Drachm. 19.63g, 32mm. EGYPT, Alexandria, RY 18 (AD 133/4). Emmett 1002.18; Dattari 1768 var.; RPC 5896 (12 spec). O: Bare head left. R: Isis Pharia holding billowing sail with both hands, sailing right toward the Lighthouse of Pharos, which is surmounted by two Tritons, each blowing a buccinum (sea shell trumpet), lantern surmounted by statue; L IH above center.
Ex Robert L. Grover Collection of Roman-Egyptian Coinage, previously held by the Art Institute of Chicago (1980.947)

 

I have also added a Sabina recently, my first coin from her.
Worn too, but a nice example for my tastes!


Sabina. Augusta AD 128-137. Rome
Denarius AR
17 mm, 2,69 g
RIC II, Part 3 (second edition) Hadrian 2576
RIC II Hadrian 396 old RIC
Date range – 136-138
Obverse Legend: SABINA AVGVSTA
Type: Bust of Sabina, diademed, wearing stephane with hair in queue, draped, right
Reverse Legend: VENERI GENETRICI
Type: Venus standing right, arranging drapery and holding apple