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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Roman Collector, post: 4856865, member: 75937&quot;]Wow, [USER=74968]@Orfew[/USER] ! That&#039;s quite a cistophorus! No wonder you&#039;re proud to have acquired it for your collection.</p><p><br /></p><p>After his wife Faustina&#039;s death in AD 149, Antoninus Pius decided to build a temple to the deified empress. The temple was dedicated in AD 143. These two coins were issued to commemorate the dedication.</p><p><br /></p><p>The first bears the inscription, DEDICATIO AEDIS (&quot;the dedication of the temple&quot;). It comes in two bust types, one bare-headed and another with a veiled bust, known from only a handful of examples: the Paris specimen cited by Cohen and Strack, and an example in a private collection cited by Temeryazev &amp; Makarenko. An <a href="https://research.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=1210487&amp;partId=1&amp;searchText=Faustina+1937,0708.26&amp;page=1" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://research.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=1210487&amp;partId=1&amp;searchText=Faustina+1937,0708.26&amp;page=1" rel="nofollow">example in the British Museum</a> (1937,0708.26) with a veiled bust wearing a stephane is considered to be an ancient forgery made of base metal. My example is, of course, the bare-headed version:</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="https://www.cointalk.com/attachments/upload_2020-1-24_4-45-21-png.1057182/" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> </p><p>Faustina I, AD 138-141.</p><p>Roman AR denarius, 3.44 g, 18.7 mm, 7 h.</p><p>Rome, AD 143.</p><p>Obv: DIVA AVG FAVSTINA, bare-headed and draped bust, right.</p><p>Rev: DEDICATIO AEDIS, hexastyle temple on stepped podium, above, a quadriga, Victories as acroteria.</p><p>Refs: RIC 388; BMCRE 306; Cohen 191; Strack 426; RCV 4596; UCR 434; CRE 127.</p><p><br /></p><p>The second type, also issued in AD 143 for the dedication of the temple, bears the reverse inscription PIETAS AVG (BMCRE 319-321) or PIETAS AVGVSTI (<a href="https://research.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=1210473&amp;partId=1&amp;searchText=Faustina+322&amp;page=1" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://research.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=1210473&amp;partId=1&amp;searchText=Faustina+322&amp;page=1" rel="nofollow">BMCRE 322</a>-323). The former is also known with a veiled bust from the collection in Vienna and cited by Strack (432). I only have the PIETAS AVG version with the bare-headed bust type:</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="https://www.cointalk.com/attachments/faustina-sr-pietas-avg-temple-denarius-jpg.1057185/" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> </p><p>Faustina I, AD 138-141.</p><p>Roman AR denarius, 3.55 g, 17.4 mm, 7 h.</p><p>Rome, AD 143.</p><p>Obv: DIVA AVG FAVSTINA, bare-headed and draped bust, right.</p><p>Rev: PIETAS AVG, hexastyle temple on stepped podium, above, a quadriga, Victories as acroteria.</p><p>Refs: RIC 396; BMCRE 319-21; Cohen 253; Strack 432; RCV 4599; UCR 435; CRE 129.</p><p><br /></p><p>The shell of this building still survives in the Roman Forum, enclosing the church of San Lorenzo in Miranda. You may see photos and read about it <a href="https://followinghadrian.com/2014/03/07/photoset-the-temple-of-antoninus-and-faustina-rome/" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://followinghadrian.com/2014/03/07/photoset-the-temple-of-antoninus-and-faustina-rome/" rel="nofollow">here</a>. Here is what remains of this temple:</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="https://www.cointalk.com/attachments/temple-of-divus-antoninus-and-diva-faustina-jpg.694903/" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" />[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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