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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Roman Collector, post: 6596968, member: 75937&quot;]Great pick-up, [USER=82616]@David Atherton[/USER]! I love hearing about &quot;overlooked gems&quot;! </p><p><br /></p><p>This one certainly looks unassuming and common. You might even say, &quot;I&#039;ll pass on it because its surfaces are rough and the portrait is pitted.&quot;</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="https://www.cointalk.com/attachments/faustina-sr-consecratio-funeral-pyre-dupondius-jpg.1045649/" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> </p><p>Faustina Senior, AD 138-141.</p><p>Roman orichalcum dupondius, 16.19 g, 26.1 mm, 10 h.</p><p>Rome, AD 140-141.</p><p>Obv: DIVA AVGVSTA FAVSTINA, bare-headed and draped bust, right.</p><p>Rev: CONSECRATIO S C, Funeral pyre in three stories, set on base, ornamented and garlanded, surmounted by Faustina in biga right.</p><p>Refs: RIC 1189; BMCRE p. 236 *; Cohen 187; RCV --; Strack 1238.</p><p><br /></p><p>The type might look familiar to you. You might even think you&#039;ve seen it at a <a href="https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=4821962" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=4821962" rel="nofollow">recent auction</a>. But you&#039;re thinking of the sestertius version of the coin and this is a dupondius. And if you think another one will appear on the market soon, you&#039;d be mistaken.</p><p><br /></p><p>This coin is very rare in the middle bronze denomination. The British Museum does not have an example and it is not to be found at Wildwinds, OCRE, The Coin Project, coinscatalog.com, in the CNG archives or on a search at acsearchinfo. RIC lists it, citing Cohen. After an exhaustive internet search, it appears the last time one appeared at auction was Münzhandlung Basel (Auction 1), June 28, 1934, pl. 29, 1171. Here&#039;s the photo (of a plaster cast) in the auction catalog:</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="https://www.cointalk.com/attachments/faustina-sr-consecratio-funeral-pyre-dupondius-m%C3%BCnzhandlung-basel-jpg.1045650/" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> </p><p><br /></p><p>It is a reverse die-match to my coin.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>So, that makes four known examples of the coin:</p><p><br /></p><p>1. Paris specimen cited by Cohen and Strack.</p><p>2. Naples specimen cited by Strack.</p><p>3. Münzhandlung Basel specimen.</p><p>4. <a href="https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=5231828" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=5231828" rel="nofollow">My specimen</a> (incorrectly described as a sestertius by the auction firm).[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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