Faustina Friday – Laetitia Right and Mouchmov Wrong

Good morning, everybody, and TGIFF!



Today we'll be talking about a mirror image.



This denarius is a new addition to my numophylacium Faustinae.

Faustina II, AD 147-175.
Roman AR denarius, 3.19 g, 18.1 mm, 5 h.
Rome, late AD 162 - early 163.
Obv: FAVSTINA AVGVSTA, draped bust right, Beckmann type 7 hairstyle and wearing stephane.
Rev: LAETITIA, Laetitia standing right, holding scepter and wreath.
Refs: RIC 702 var. (stephane); BMCRE 127-128; RSC 152c; RCV --; MIR 22-4/10b diad.; CRE 199.​

You'll notice this coin is a mirror image to the usual reverse type, which depicts Laetitia standing left, holding wreath and scepter.

Faustina II, AD 147-175.
Roman AR denarius, 3.41 g, 18.7 mm, 11 h.
Rome, late AD 162 - early 163.
Obv: FAVSTINA AVGVSTA, draped bust right, Beckmann type 7 hairstyle and wearing stephane.
Rev: LAETITIA, Laetitia standing left, holding wreath and scepter.
Refs: RIC 701; BMCRE 129-131; Cohen 148; RCV --; MIR 21-4/10b diad.; CRE 198.​

The coin was issued in late AD 162 or early 163 to commemorate the birth of Marcus Annius Verus.[1] These LAETITIA reverse types were issued in the aureus, denarius, sestertius, and middle bronze denominations. The Laetitia standing right ("mirror image") reverse does not appear on the aureus but is known on the three other denominations. I have discussed these Laetitia variants previously here and here.

Because I have previously discussed these, I don't want to repeat myself, but wish to shift focus to the listing for the Laetitia standing right version of the denarius in Mouchmov's Le Trésor numismatique de Réka-Devnia: Marcianopolis,[2] which I shall henceforth refer to as Mouchmov. This is the catalog of the coins found in the Réka Devnia hoard. There is an error in the listing for this reverse type which I believe is important to correct.

The Réka Devnia hoard was found on 10 November 1929 at the site of the ancient city of Marcianopolis in Thrace, modern Bulgaria. The hoard consisted of more than 101,000 denarii from the time of Mark Antony to Trajan Decius and, as such, is the largest find of Roman silver coins of this period to have ever been published. The coins were then packed in crates and taken to two museums in Bulgaria, with 68,783 coins sent to the museum of Sofia, and 12,261 to Varna, after which it was cataloged and published by Nicolas Mouchmov in 1934. Unfortunately for scholarship, more than 20,000 coins were looted and dispersed to collectors in the process,[3,4] largely from the contents shipped to Varna. For common types, Mouchmov provides an estimate of the proportions of each coin type in circulation at the time the coins were hoarded. However, it is difficult to assess the true comparative rarity of some of the scarcest types because examples from Varna were looted prior to the hoard's publishing. For example, dozens of scarce denarii of Pertinax, Aquilia Severa, and Orbiana were found in the Sofia group while the Varna group was devoid of all but one example of Pertinax and one example of Aquilia Severa.[5] It's important, therefore, to use caution when using Mouchmov to ascertain relative rarity of the scarcer types.[6] Let's look at the relevant page in Mouchmov at the listing for this coin.[7]



Mouchmov simply counts the number of specimens of each reference number in Cohen's catalogue, and records any unlisted variants. It is imperative, therefore, to examine the Cohen listing for the LAETITIA reverse types.[8]



Cohen does not record a denarius with Laetitia standing right, though he does note the middle bronze with this reverse type (no. 152). Unlike Seaby, who considered the denarii with the right-facing Laetitia type a variant of Cohen 152,[9] Mouchmov considered this reverse type to be a variety of Cohen 148, La Joie debout à gauche, tenant une couronne et un sceptre ("Laetitia standing left, holding a wreath and a scepter"), with a diademed obverse bust type. He records 6 specimens sent to Sofia and 3 to Varna for a total of 9.

In his footnote to the entry, Mouchmov records the nature of the variant: La Joie debout a droite, tenant un sceptre et une corne d'abondance. Cohen vice-versa ("Laetitia standing right, holding a scepter and a cornucopiae. Cohen vice-versa"). The reference to "Cohen vice-versa" clearly indicates that Mouchmov is trying to show that the reverse type is the reverse of that in Cohen's description. The description of Laetitia holding a cornucopiae appears to be a simple error, confusing couronne with corne d'abondance. Adding to the confusion, however, Mattingly notes that the T. O. Mabbot collection contained a type reportedly depicting Laetitia holding "scepter and corn ears."[10] However, after an exhaustive internet search, I have been unable to find any examples of a Laetitia type where the deity holds either a cornucopiae or corn ears (RSC 152d or 152e) and I am confident that these listings in Mouchmov and Mabbot are merely misdescriptions of the type under discussion.

Surprisingly, Mouchmov records no examples in the Réka Devnia hoard of a bust type without the stephane depicting Laetitia with the "mirror image" reverse type (RIC 702). However, the British Museum collection contains two specimens, one with a bare-headed bust and one in which the empress wears a double circlet of pearls around her head. I do not yet have examples of these bust types in my collection.

Denarius featuring Laetitia standing right, holding scepter and wreath, bare-headed bust type. BMCRE 125.​

Denarius featuring Laetitia standing right, holding scepter and wreath, double circlet of pearls bust type. BMCRE 126.​

Do you have any coins with mirror-image reverse types? Feel free to post comments, Faustina coins with the LAETITIA reverse type, or anything you feel is relevant!

~~~

Notes

1. This had been suggested by Szaivert but later definitively demonstrated by Beckmann's die-linkage study of the aurei of Faustina II. See Szaivert, Wolfgang, Die Münzprägung der Kaiser Marcus Aurelius, Lucius Verus und Commodus (161/192), Moneta Imperii Romani 18. Vienna, 1989, p. 230, and Beckmann, Martin, Faustina the Younger: Coinage, Portraits, and Public Image, A.N.S. Numismatic Studies 43, American Numismatic Society, New York, 2021, pp. 60-61.

2. Mouchmov, Nicolas A. Le trésor Numismatique De réka-Devnia: Marcianopolis. Musée National Bulgare, 1934.

3. "Coin Hoards of the Roman Empire." Hoard Details 3406, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, https://chre.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/hoard/3406.

4. "Reka Devnia Hoard." Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 19 Apr. 2021, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reka_Devnia_Hoard.

5. Ibid.

6. Coin Talk's own @curtislclay cautions in the 2003 reprint of Mouchmov (as reported by Beckmann, op. cit., p. 115) that the Varna list contains numerous errors and omissions.

7. Mouchmov, op. cit., p. 76.

8. Cohen, Henry. Description historique des monnaies frappées sous l'Empire Romain, Tome III: de Marc Aurèle à Albin (161 à 197 après J.-C.). Paris, 1883, p. 148.

9. Nos. 151a, 152b, 152c, 152 d, and 152e. See Seaby, H. A. Roman Silver Coins, vol II: Tiberius - Commodus. London, B. A. Seaby, LTD, 1968, p. 191.

10. Mattingly, Harold, Coins of the Roman Empire in the British Museum, vol.IV: Antoninus Pius to Commodus. Introduction, indexes and plates. London, BMP, 1968, p. 402, no. 125n., which is cited by Seaby (op. cit.) as no. 152e.

 

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Here is mine, similar to your coin but not a die match.



Faustina II, Denar
Obv.: FAVSTINA AVGVSTA, Bust of Faustina II, hair waved and fastened in a bun on back of head, wearing stephane, draped, right
Rev.: LAETITIA, Laetitia, draped, standing right, holding wreath in right hand and sceptre in left hand
Ref.: CRE 199

 

Lovely example! One of the finest I've seen.