Currently, I am trying to photograph and properly attribute some low grade coins I bought years ago when I started collecting ancients – mostly unspectacular LRBs that will have to go. This one, though, caught my attention. It is a Faustina II as with a Vesta reverse in admittedly low grade. Yet, what is special about it is that this reverse usually doesn't come with a veiled bust – I of course hadn't recognized this when writing my first tag. Faustina I (postumous), Roman Empire, As or Dupondius, 141 AD, Rome mint. Obv: DIVA FAVS[TINA], bust of Faustina, veiled, r. Rev: [A]VGUST[A], Vesta standing l., holding palladium and torch or sceptre; in fields flanking, SC. 27mm, 9.05g. RIC III Antoninus Pius 1178 or 1179 var (no veiled bust!). Depending of whether we interpret the object in Vesta's left hand as a torch or a sceptre, it is either RIC III 1178 or 1179. None of them is listed as having a veiled bust (which would be (b), (c), or (d)), in RIC: What do you think? Should I consider this an unpublished variant or a mule? RIC records veiled busts with a DIVA FAVSTINA legend for some contemporary asses, among them 1168, 1169, 1171, and 1173. Please feel free to post all strange variants you have in your collections!
Awesome! I suspect you have a real rarity there, of a sort that will get @Roman Collector excited. Your post reminds me of this one of his from a while ago.
Interesting variety - I am not really able to offer much by way of information, but I just so happened to get a Faustina II that I had "variation" problems with as well - I got in on eBay from a seller in France. It is a sestertius that is common, and in poor shape, but with FAVSTINAE in lieu of -A. I scoured the web and found only an old eBay auction (not mine) that matched it: Faustina II Æ Sestertius (176-180 A.D.) Rome Mint FAVSTINAE [AVGVSTAE], draped bust right. / [DIANA LVCIFERA SC] Diana standing right holding long torch in both hands. RIC 1630 var. (FAVSTINAE); Cohen 88; BMC 899. (21.44 grams / 27 mm)
That is very interesting and certainly quite scarce. The coin is RIC 1179, Cohen 111 and BMC 1582, neither of which are listed as having a veiled bust as a variant. The three specimens from various museum collections at OCRE are all bare-headed as well. A search at acsearchinfo yields no veiled busts, either, but it does show several specimens of RIC 1178 misidentified as 1179. Of course, BMC and RIC are several decades old and undoubtedly are incomplete when it comes to scarcer bust varieties. Here's the British Museum specimen: And the example in my own collection: If you're wondering what the Palladium and torch reverse (RIC 1178) looks like, this is an example (yours is not this coin):
@Roman Collector , thanks a ton for the info and the correct attribution! Distinguishing between a sceptre and a torch can sometimes be hard...
