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Message:: [QUOTE="Roman Collector, post: 7866903, member: 75937"]Faustina Friday – Concordia and the Birth of Lucilla, continued Further Down the Die-Link Chain: Changes in Obverse Titulature The next major development in the aurei of Faustina – and almost certainly paralleled in the silver and bronze issues – is a shift to a new obverse legend in the nominative case, FAVSTINA AVG PII AVG FIL. This change was not sudden or clear cut, but transpired over a period of extended coin production marked by what Beckmann describes as a "confusing array of different obverse legends, portraits, and reverse types." He further notes that this legend appeared briefly before a new obverse legend was introduced, FAVSTINA AVG ANTONINI AVG PII FIL, which was used for a somewhat longer time before it was switched back to FAVSTINA AVG PII AVG FIL.[14] Overall, this is consistent with Mattingly's dating of the FAVSTINA AVG ANTONINI AVG PII FIL legend to c. 150-152 and the FAVSTINA AVG PII AVG FIL legend to c. 152-153.[15] However, it's important to note that the situation appears to be more complicated, with overlap between the legends and possible simultaneous use on some issues. We have no similar die-linkage studies of the silver and bronze issues with these legends and their absolute dating is fraught with difficulty. Here are examples from my collection of the Concordia reverse type in silver depicting the various obverse legends. Though the reverse type seems to have been initially struck to commemorate the birth of Lucilla, the use of this reverse type with each of the later obverse legends suggests it was in production over a period lasting perhaps three to five years. Its theme, therefore, likely refers to the ongoing concord and marital harmony between Faustina and Marcus during the early 150s. The personification of Concordia is not limited to this reverse type, but is a recurring theme on the coinage of the empress throughout her life. [ATTACH=full]1355287[/ATTACH]<blockquote>Faustina II, AD 147-175. Roman AR Denarius, 2.84 g, 18.5 mm, 6 h. Rome, c. AD 150-152. Obv: FAVSTINA AVG ANTONINI AVG PII FIL, bare-headed and draped bust right. Rev: CONCORDIA, Concordia standing facing, head left, holding skirt and cornucopiae. Refs: RIC III 501 (Pius); BMCRE 1078 note (Pius); Cohen/RSC 46; RCV --; CRE 166; ERIC II --.</blockquote> [ATTACH=full]1355289[/ATTACH]<blockquote>Faustina Jr, AD 147-175.Roman AR denarius, 3.03 g, 17.3 mm, 7 h.Rome, AD 152-154.Obv: FAVSTINA AVG PII AVG FIL, bare-headed and draped bust, right.Rev: CONCORDIA standing facing, head right, gathering up skirt and holding cornucopiae.Refs: RIC 500b,3; BMCRE 1085; Cohen 42, CRE 164. </blockquote> I shall close with one interesting (unique) coin, known from a single example. It bears Faustina's second hairstyle and the FAVSTINA AVG PII AVG FIL obverse legend. It depicts Hilaritas standing between two girls. This composition suggests a date roughly contemporaneous with the Concordia with two girls type of Marcus Aurelius illustrated above.[16] I postulate this coin, like the others, depicts Domitia Faustina and Lucilla. [ATTACH=full]1355290[/ATTACH]<blockquote>Middle bronze (RIC 1397; BMCRE p.380§; Strack 1317a). Each of these references cites a single specimen, that illustrated above: Jacques Schulman B.V., Amsterdam (Auction 139, Vierordt), 5.3.1923, pl. 37, 1642.</blockquote> ~~~ Notes 1. Beckmann, Martin, Faustina the Younger: Coinage, Portraits, and Public Image, A.N.S. Numismatic Studies 43, American Numismatic Society, New York, 2021. 2. Ibid., p. 37. 3. Ibid., p. 37. 4. Ibid., p. 38. 5. Ibid., p. 39. 6. Mattingly, Harold. Coins of the Roman Empire in the British Museum: Antoninus Pius to Commodus. Vol. 4, British Museum, 1940, p. lxvii, n.4. 7. Birley, Anthony R. Marcus Aurelius: A Biography. New York: Routledge, 1966, rev. 1987, pp. 206–07. 8. Fittschen, Klaus, "Die Bildnistypen der Faustina Minor und die Fecunditas Augustae," Abhandlungen der Akademie der Wissenschaften in Göttingen, Philologisch-historische Klasse, 3rd Series, no.126, Göttingen, 1982, p. 24. 9. Ameling, Walter. Die Kinder des Marc Aurel und die Bildnistypen der Faustina Minor. Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 90 (1992):147-166, specifically, 152-156 and n. 43; p. 161 for chronology. Available online at <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/20187629?read-now=1&seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/20187629?read-now=1&seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents" rel="nofollow">https://www.jstor.org/stable/20187629?read-now=1&seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents</a> 10. Levick, Barbara. Faustina I and II: Imperial Women of the Golden Age. Oxford University Press, 2014, pp. 115-18. 11. IGR 1509, ll.7-8, as cited by Beckmann, op. cit., p. 40. 12. ILS 385, her funerary inscription from the Mausoleum of Hadrian, where she is named as the daughter of Marcus Caesar. Cited by Beckmann, op. cit., p. 40. 13. Ameling, op. cit. 14. Beckmann, op. cit., p. 42. 15. Mattingly, op. cit., pp. xliv, lxxvi-lxvii; 158 ff. 16. Beckmann, op. cit., pp. 45-46.[/QUOTE]

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