My first ever aureus!

And likely NOT my last.

 

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A beauty, now take it out of the damn tomb and really enjoy it.

 

What’s the RIC attribution and provenance?

 

Haha! Nah. I like the presentation. I can appreciate these in hand though.

 

My friend looked it up and said this:


RIC III 394c
Sear-4562

Issued at the Rome mint in AD 141

 

Congratulations! A further attribution/pedigree is:

Diva Faustina Senior (AD 138-140/1). AV aureus (19mm, 6.88 gm, 11h). NGC XF 5/5 - 4/5. Rome, AD 141-147. DIVA•AVGVSTA-FAVSTINA•, draped bust of Diva Faustina Senior right, seen from front, hair elaborately waved in several loops around head, braided, drawn up and coiled on top with pearls / PIETAS•-AVG•, Pietas standing facing, veiled head left, incense box in left hand, dropping incense from right hand into candelabrum to left. RIC III (Antoninus Pius) 395a. Calicó 1796.

Ex Heritage Auctions, Auction 3098 NYINC (18 January 2022), lot 33301; Ex. Heritage Auctions, Auction 3085 Dallas (7 August 2020), lot 31141

Edit: and for completeness, it also sold in Heritage's Central States signature sale #3083 lot 30117 on April 24, 2020.

 

Beautiful. The obverse die is Beckmann daf17; the reverse die is PA9. Beckmann cites three aurei with this combination of dies:

Madrid 393 (Museum collection).
Auctiones 17, October 1934, lot 820.
Cambridge CM.YG.1335-R. (Fitzwilliam Museum).

 

This was one of the first aurei struck for the deified empress and probably dates from November or December, AD 140. The obverse die was also used to strike coins with the carpentum reverse type.

 

Congrats to your new purchase, @asheland. It is a very nice aureus.

 

Also ex Schulman, Auction 360 (18 October 2019), Lot 12 and Jesús Vico, Auction 153 (7 March 2019), Lot 433.

 

Very nice! Now that is the sort of purchase I can only dream of.

 

What I don't understand is how often this coin has been sold! I'm a hoarder when it comes to my Faustina collection. If I had this, they'd have to pry it out of my cold, dead hands!

 

I guess someone bought it from Vico and then tried to resell it with some profit. First with Schulman, where it went unsold, and later with Heritage, where it possibly didn't meet the reserve in Auction 3083 or was bought by Heritage themselves. Thus the lower starting price in Auction 3085.

There are a lot of coins that are offered over and over again for many years and in different auctions for this very reason.

 

You guys impress me with the knowledge! I appreciate all of the comments and information! I am proud to own this and hope to add others in time.


It’s a significant purchase for me, I’m of limited means. It’ll be in my collection for a very long time if I have any say in the matter.

Thanks everybody for the information and kind words!

 

Nice coin. I don't have any aurei, just solidi and nomismatas at this point.

 

@asheland That is a delightful coin that I am sure will provide you with years of pleasure and pride of ownership. I feel fortunate to have been able to inspect it in person!

 

@Roman Collector What is that book?

 

Beckmann, Martin. Diva Faustina: Coinage and Cult in Rome and the Provinces. American Numismatic Society, 2012.

 

Thanks everybody!