Beautiful portraits on denarii: Soap and water. That's how you clean a dirty girl like Faustina

Bought this little cutie in the last N(o)BS auction, smitten by her portrait. Though, the crud was a turn off. I figured I could give the coin to @Roman Collector for Saturnalia if it didn't clean up.
Sorry RC, it cleaned up pretty beaver damn well.
The auction houses picture:

Diva Faustina I AR Denarius. Struck under Antoninus Pius, Rome, AD 141. DIVA FAVSTINA, draped bust left / AETERNITAS, Juno standing left, raising right hand and holding sceptre.
Reference:RIC 344
Condition: Very Fine
Weight: 2,8 gr
Diameter: 17 mm

A bit of patience, letting her sit in distilled water for a few days and the cut down bristles of my boy's old toothbrush giving her a soothing massage and vwalah, talk about cherry!


Might be my favorite non-fictional female portrait on a denarius.

Speaking of, here are some more of my favorite portraits on denarii:
Scipio Africanus was the scourge of one of the greatest militaristic mindsof all time... we may always wonder if it's Scipio or Mars?

Cn. Blasio Cn.f..
Denarius, 3.64g. (h). Rome, 112-111 BC. Obv: Helmeted head right (Scipio Africanus?), mark of value above, caduceus behind, [CN BLA]SIO CN F before. Rx: Jupiter standing. between Juno and Minerva, dot in field, [ROMA] in exergue. Crawford 296/1a. Sydenham 561. RSC Cornelia 19. Minor weakness on reverse. Bold, lustrous EF.

Victory is a stone cold fox right here:

L.Valerius,Flacci
Denarius 108 or 107, AR 3.97 g. Draped bust of Victory r.; below chin, Ú. Rev. L•VALERI / FLACCI Mars walking l., holding spear and trophy over l. shoulder; before, apex and behind, corn ear. Babelon Valeria 11. Sydenham 565. Crawford 306/1.

The coin type that HOOKED me on Rrs:

Creperius, Rocus
Denarius. 68 BC. Uncertain mint. (Ffc-657). (Craw-399-1b). (Cal-522). Obv: Bust of the back of the Sea Goddess to the right, C to the right, to the left crab. Rev .: Neptune with trident, in biga pulled by hippocampi to the right, below Q CREPER M (F) / ROCVS. Ag. 3.61 g. Usually struck off center. Very scarce. VF.
Ex: Tauler & Fau
"The female bust on the obverse is often described as the sea-goddess Amphitrite, but in his analysis of the coin, Andrew McCabe argues that Venus is the more likely candidate to accompany Neptune.
While we cannot be certain as to why the moneyer chose this particular imagery, Tacitus does relate how Neptune was less than propitious towards his descendent Crepereius Gallus who was killed in an assassination attempt against Agrippina when he boarded the self-sinking boat Nero had commissioned. It was significant to them, but is now lost to history."

Probably my very favorite coin that I've yet to give its own write up:

L. Hostilius Saserna. Fourré Denarius (18-19 mm, 2.86 g), Rome, 48 BC.
Obv. Bearded male head to right, his hair straggling out behind him; cloak around neck and Gallic shield behind.
Rev. L HOSTILIVS / SASERN, Nude Gallic warrior, holding shield with his left hand and hurling spear with his right, standing left in a galloping biga being driven to right by a seated charioteer holding a whip.
Cf. Craw. 448/2; Syd. 952.
Fourré. Very fine. Purchased from Auctiones gmbh March 2021
"The head on this famous and desirable coin has long been identified as that of Vercingetorix. This can not be proven but the head does have remarkably individualistic and naturalistic features, and it must surely represent an actual Gaulish captive seen by the die engraver."

By Septimius's beard, I LOVE Septimius beard!

Septimius Severus
(193-211 AD). AR Denarius (19 mm, 3.20 g), Roma, 200 AD.
Obv. SEVERVS AVG PART MAX, laureate head right.
Rev. PM TR P VIII COS II PP, Victory advancing left, holding open wreath over shield set on low base.
RIC 150. Nice portrait. Good very fine. Former: Auctiones GmbH

(Lovely, and surely exotic looking to the people of Rome, JD MUST have been a sight to see

Julia Domna
(AD 193-217). AR denarius (20mm, 3.30 gm, 1h). VF, flan crack. Rome, AD 200-207. IVLIA-AVGVSTA, draped bust of Julia Domna right, seen from front, hair braided in waves and tucked in large chignon at back of head / SAECVLI F-ELICITAS, Isis, wearing peaked headdress, standing right, left foot on prow, holding the infant horus at her breast; to left, altar, against which rests a rudder. RIC IV.I (Septimius Severus) 577. Ex: Dr Elkowicz Jan 2021



Needs a better Pic, but the difference between the lovely Domna under Septimius compared to the matronly Mama Domna under Caracalla is a stark contrast:

Julia Domna. Augusta, AD 193-217. Denarius (Silver, 3.25 g 7), Rome, 216 CE. IVLIA PIA FELIX AVG Draped bust of Julia Domna to right. Rev. VENVS GENETRIX Venus seated left, extending right hand and holding scepter in her left. BMC 23B. Cohen 212. Hill 1536. RIC 388c (Caracalla). A superb and lustrous coin with an excellent portrait and wonderful toning. Virtually as struck. Ex CNG E auction 460 lot 1055. Ex El Iberico Collection. Saturnalia 2020 gift from @bcuda

(I can neither confirm nor deny that I have just today won possibly the best Domna coin of my collection. More to come)

I know, I know. It's a cheat posting a Antoninianus. But man O man is that portrait sweet!

Trajan Decius, AD 249-251. Struck between July-Dec, 250 AD. Silver Antoninianus (4.12 g) minted at Rome, AD 250. Radiate, draped and cuirassed bust of Trajan Decius right. Reverse: Abundantia (Abundance) standing right, emptying her cornucopiae. RIC 10b, RSC 2. Meticulously detailed portrait. Ex El Iberico Collection. Saturnalia 2020 gift from @bcuda


*check out that drum set
So, yeah. That's it. Post up your favorite faces on denarius, coins you've cleaned without chemicals or whatever gets the frosty off your Fausty

 

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This is torture ! Shame on you, bad boy...

 

To be clear; I don't want folks wondering if the point of that comment was to torture my good buddy @Roman Collector, cause it certainly was
I almost named the thread Faustina Wednesday, due to all the beauties he shows off that have me drooling eveeery single Friday!
Here's another well felt up Faustina just to antagonize

 

She cleaned up quite nicely @Ryro !

That SeptSev is a sight to behold. What a lovely Victory

 

Mmmm mmmm!! That's a mighty fine Faustina I denarius! Cleaned up spic and span!!



I do love the AETERNITAS series of AD 150 and following struck to commemorate the 10th anniversary of Faustina's death.

I once devoted an entire installment of Faustina Friday to this reverse type. Mine's not as round. It's not exactly fine style, either.


Faustina I, AD 138-140.
Roman AR denarius, 3.22 g, 18.6 mm, 1 h.
Rome, AD 150 or later.
Obv: DIVA FAVSTINA, bare-headed and draped bust, right.
Rev: AETERNITAS, Female figure (Aeternitas? Juno?) veiled and draped, standing facing, head left, raising right hand and holding scepter in left hand.
Refs: RIC 344; BMCRE 351; Cohen 26; Strack 448; RCV 4574; CRE 103.

 

One of my favorite portraits on a denarius is on this coin, from the first denarii I have ever bought (and seen)

 

Great coins! FYI, I believe you may have the wrong ID on your first Julia Domna: that's actually Isis with the infant Harpocrates ("Horus as child") on her knee on the reverse. No second chiId. IVLIA AVGVSTA on the obverse; SAECVLI FELICITAS on the reverse. RIC IV-1 577. It's one of my own favorite types, which I've posted here a number of times, so I recognized it right away!

 

Good catch! I've updated it above... is that your favorite portrait on a denarius? Would enjoy seeing them

 

Well, it's certainly my favorite portrait of Julia Domna:



There are a lot of others I like, so picking a handful of favorites would be difficult. I'll have to give it some thought!

 

Here's a rather attractive limes denarius.

She does have something on her mind, though...

 

Some of my favourite Portraits on Denarius..

 

Ha! Very cool. And reminds me of my Galba fouree that also has a nice, if not weathered, portrait.
Denarius for your thoughts Galba... oh wait, I can see them from here!:

 

Julia Domna's portrait on coins struck under Caracalla may not be as youthful-looking as those struck under Septimius Severus, but she was well into her 50s, and near the end of her life, as well. I think the coins struck under Caracalla have the more realistic portraits, and those struck under Septimius Severus were a little more idealized since he was portraying his wife to the masses. I'm probably biased because this is my Julia Domna denarius:

 

...we were discussing her scowl on the coins minted under Caracalla....really, i dont think she had too much to smile about...of course, he(Caracalla) wasn't smilin' too much either on his coins