Macrinus denarius with a nice "long-beard" portrait

An Imperial medium beard and a Provincial short one from Marcianopolis (a Pentassarion with facing busts of Macrinus and Diadumenian):

 

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A beautiful Macrinus you have there @Shea19

A recent non-lovely Macrinus led me to a comment on his beard, found in Henry Jewell Bassett's University of Michigan dissertation "Macrinus and Diadumenianus" (1920). Here is what he says:

"Authorities agree the new emperor spent the winter in luxury and effeminacy to the neglect of administrative affairs. His dress was elaborate and his personal adornments were better fitted to a barbarian court than to the provinicial headquarters of a Roman emperor. He imitated Marcus Aurelius in slowness of gait, in speaking in a hesitating manner and in a low tone, and even in the method of trimming his beard..." (p. 49)​

The chapter before this section, Bassett discusses Macrinus-Diadumenian's coinage, his theory being that the huge provincial issues for Moesia, etc. were in response to the new emperor's travels through these areas.

This is available on Google Books here:
https://books.google.com/books?id=POA7AQAAIAAJ&pg=PA46&dq=marcianopolis+and+macrinus&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjq093M4ujzAhUhMn0KHSWFCGMQ6AF6BAgJEAI#v=onepage&q=marcianopolis and macrinus&f=true

A more recent comment on the beard of Macrinus can be found in Caracalla: A Military Biography by Ilkka Syvänne. Syvänne claims the soldiers were actually angered by Macrinus's longer beard, since it was a break with Caracalla's short beard:

"The bearded Macrinus imitating Marcus Aurelius signified a break with Caracalla's coins and medallions. It is no wonder that when the soldiers got their first bearded versions of Macrinus that they started to feel anger building up..." ​

The page quoted here, with line drawings of the coins, can be found here (but for some reason this book seems to lack page numbers - it is towards the end of the book):
https://books.google.com/books?id=RtLLDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT498&dq=macrinus+aurelius+beard&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwievuTstuzzAhUFrJ4KHZDEDUUQ6AF6BAgHEAI#v=onepage&q=macrinus aurelius beard&f=false

I was looking into Macrinus because I got a low-grade provincial off eBay recently - any Macrinus under ten bucks seems like a bargain to me, but I've been wrong about "bargains" before. Mine has very little sign of any beard at all and a Farnese Hercules, a bit blurry:


Macrinus Æ 26
(217-218 A.D.)
Moesia Inf., Nicopolis ad Istrum
Magistrate Statilius Longinus
[AVT K M OΠ]ЄΛ CЄV MAKPЄINOC, laureate head r. / VΠ CT[A ΛONΓINOV
NI]KOΠOΛITΩN ΠPOC IC, Farnese Herakles standing right, resting on club, holding lion skin.
(11.31 grams / 26 mm)
eBay Oct. 2021 $8.00
Attribution:
Varbanov 3457; AMNG I 1759.

An auction for: AMNG I 1759; Varbanov, GIC 3458 seems the same to me (3457/3458?).

A variation with different legends is Varbanov 3431

Possible Obv./Rev. Die Match:
Roma Numismatics E-Sale 87; Lot 519; 29.07.2021

It might not be a die match, but it is very, very similar to a nicer one sold by Roma, with short beard details visible: