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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Roman Collector, post: 7535860, member: 75937&quot;]Then there is this interesting coin, known only from a single example from the Vierordt collection, Jacques Schulman B.V., Amsterdam (Auction 139, Vierordt), 5.3.1923, pl. 37, lot 1642. This specimen is cited by Strack, RIC and BMCRE.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1300977[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>It&#039;s hard to identify the two children on the reverse. Neither are newborns. The obverse inscription is one dated by both Strack and Mattingly to AD 152-156. If they even existed,* the twins supposedly born in AD 149 were dead by this time. Domitia Faustina -- the first child -- was also dead. There was a male child, whom some have identified as T. Aurelius Antoninus or perhaps as Hadrianus, born in AD 152. He died in infancy. No births subsequent are recorded until AD 157.</p><p><br /></p><p>Assuming the children on the reverse of this coin are supposed to represent the children of Faustina and not just an attribute of Hilaritas (or Pietas, as some have suggested), they would have to be Lucilla and Faustina III. But what would be the purpose of such an issue? Was there some sort of grounds for celebration involving the two surviving daughters? I don&#039;t know.</p><p><br /></p><p>And if the coin is genuine, why have no other examples surfaced??? [USER=89514]@curtislclay[/USER], do you have any thoughts about this coin?</p><p><br /></p><p>I&#039;m looking forward to Beckmann&#039;s forthcoming book on Faustina II, which should better pin down the chronology of Pius&#039; issues for his daughter. That might help solve the mystery.</p><p><br /></p><p>*I follow Ameling in doubting the existence of male twins born in this year. The theory is primarily based on numismatic evidence suggesting the children on the crossed cornuacopiae type of Antoninus Pius were twin boys. As I have demonstrated above, the children on this coin type were neither twins nor both boys.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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