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Message:: [QUOTE="Roman Collector, post: 7782785, member: 75937"]We speak of the golden age of Hollywood or the golden age of radio. Gold and silver medals are awarded to the top two athletes in the Olympic games. We speak of silver and gold as precious metals. Silver and gold … silver and gold … everyone wishes for silver and gold, don't they? [MEDIA=youtube]rY-XDQN6ipE[/MEDIA] Few wish for bronze.[1] A bronze coin must feel like a neglected middle child. <img src="https://media1.tenor.com/images/569b16130867566850b59e507b31b624/tenor.gif?itemid=10788659" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> But bronze coins were the workhorse of the Roman monetary system. Most transactions in the marketplace were conducted with bronze denominations. For this reason, bronze coins tended to be issued in larger numbers and with a greater variety of reverse types than their precious-metal siblings. The same holds true for the first coins issued for Faustina II, shortly after she was awarded the title of Augusta on 1 December, AD 147, the day after giving birth to her firstborn, her daughter Domitia Faustina. Nine distinct reverse types were used on the bronze coinage issued for the young empress by her father during this period. I will endeavor to illustrate each of them with examples from my own collection, with examples from the British Museum collection or auction sales serving to depict those lacking in my numophylacium. The first coins issued for Faustina II bear the dative case inscription FAVSTINAE AVG PII AVG FIL, which is translated as "For Faustina Augusta, daughter of Pius Augustus." As I have previously discussed <a href="https://www.cointalk.com/threads/a-late-sestertius-of-faustina-ii-with-a-dative-obverse-inscription-previously-unattested.373298/" class="internalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.cointalk.com/threads/a-late-sestertius-of-faustina-ii-with-a-dative-obverse-inscription-previously-unattested.373298/">here</a> at CT, the dative case is not infrequently used on Roman coins issued for princes and women by their fathers or husbands in honor of or for them, particularly on their first issues. The Latin dative case conveys this notion of "for so-and-so." We know from Martin Beckmann's recently published die-linkage study of Faustina's aurei that three reverse types were issued nearly simultaneously in gold. Each of the reverse types refers to the birth of Domitia Faustina in their iconography.[2] These are: Venus Genetrix, Juno Lucina, and Laetitia Publica. designs were also issued in the sestertius and middle bronze denominations. Venus in her aspect as the divine ancestress of the Roman people was known as Venus Genetrix, Venus the mother. For the first time in Roman numismatics, the goddess is depicted with a swaddled child, befitting the young empress who had just given birth.[3] [ATTACH=full]1335388[/ATTACH]<blockquote>Faustina Jr., Augusta AD 147-175. Roman orichalcum sestertius, 22.96 gm, 30.4 mm, 11 h. Rome, December AD 147-early 148. Obv: FAVSTINAE AVG PII AVG FIL, bust of Faustina II, draped and wearing stephane, right. Rev: VENERI GENETRICI SC, Venus Genetrix standing left, holding apple and child in swaddling clothes. Refs: RIC 1386b; BMCRE 2145; Cohen 237; Strack 1306; RCV 4718.</blockquote> Juno in her aspect as protectress of women in childbirth and of midwives was known as Juno Lucina. [ATTACH=full]1335389[/ATTACH]<blockquote>Faustina II, AD 147-175.Roman Æ as or dupondius, 8.68 g, 25.9 mm.Rome, December AD 147-early 148.Obv: FAVSTINAE AVG PII AVG FIL, bust of Faustina II, draped and wearing band of pearls, right.Rev: IVNONI LVCINAE S C, Juno, veiled, standing left, holding patera and scepter.Refs: RIC 1400A; BMCRE 2153-54; Cohen --; Strack 1299; RCV 4728.</blockquote> Laetitiae Publicae means "in honor of public rejoicing," the occasion for rejoicing being the new Augusta and her baby. The Latin word laetitia carries connotations of fertility.[4] [ATTACH=full]1335391[/ATTACH]<blockquote>Sestertius, British Museum collection, RIC 1378c; BMC <a href="https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/C_1913-0604-62" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/C_1913-0604-62" rel="nofollow">2139</a>.</blockquote> These three reverse types appear to have been used for only a short period of time. After only four obverse dies had been used in the production of the aurei with these reverse designs, a new reverse die appears: Venus standing, holding an apple and rudder.[5] This type also appears on the sestertius and middle bronze denominations. [ATTACH=full]1335392[/ATTACH]<blockquote>Faustina II, AD 147-175. Roman orichalcum dupondius, 14.77 g, 26.5 mm, 12 h. Rome, early AD 148-March AD 149. Obv: FAVSTINAE AVG PII AVG FIL, draped bust right with strand of pearls around head. Rev: VENVS S C, Venus standing left, holding apple and rudder, around the shaft of which a dolphin is entwined.  Refs: RIC 1409b; BMCRE 2160-63; Cohen 269; RCV 4736.</blockquote> In addition to these four types of which the chronology is certain, there are five additional reverse types issued in bronze for which dating is less certain, because they were not issued in gold, and therefore fall outside of the purview of Beckmann's die-linkage study of her aurei. These include a Hilaritas type, three distinct Pudicitia types, and a Venus issue differing in design from that illustrated above. Apart from the Hilaritas type and the Pudicitia type depicting two children, none of these types hint at childbirth and there is no reason to think they were among the very first issues of the period. I therefore date them to early AD 148-March AD 149. They are listed in alphabetical order by reverse inscription. [ATTACH=full]1335393[/ATTACH]<blockquote>Faustina II, AD 147-175.Roman Æ as, 9.72 g, 25.7 mm, 5 h.Rome, early AD 148-March AD 149.Obv: FAVSTINAE AVG PII AVG FIL, draped bust wearing band of pearls around the head, right.Rev: HILARITAS S C, Hilaritas standing right, adjusting veil and holding long palm.Refs: RIC 1396b; BMCRE 2151-52; Cohen 115; RCV 4725.</blockquote> [ATTACH=full]1335394[/ATTACH]<blockquote>Faustina II, AD 147-175.Roman Æ as, 9.50 g, 27.1 mm, 12 h.Rome, early AD 148-March AD 149.Obv: FAVSTINAE AVG PII AVG FIL, Bust of Faustina II, draped, with band of pearls, right.Rev: PVDICITIA S C, Pudicitia standing facing, head left, lifting veil from shoulders with both hands.Refs: RIC 1403b, BMCRE 2157-58; Cohen 179 var. (no stephane); Strack 1301; RCV 4731; UCR 759.Notes: Pudicitia is typically depicted veiled and with a scepter or sacrificing over an altar. This is a rather unusual depiction of Pudicitia in that she lacks a scepter and is adjusting her clothing with both hands. I am unaware of Pudicitia being portrayed in this way on any other Roman issue.</blockquote> [ATTACH=full]1335395[/ATTACH]<blockquote>Pudicitia, veiled, seated left, holding child on knee; in front, child standing. RIC 1382; BMCRE 2142n; Cohen 188; Strack 1303. Bertolami E-Auction 59, lot <a href="https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=5004444" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=5004444" rel="nofollow">739</a>, 20 May, 2018.Notes: This coin is very rare. It is known only in the sestertius denomination and from three museum specimens cited by Strack and a single coin sold at auction (this coin). I do not believe the two children illustrated on this coin depict the birth of Faustina's second child, Lucilla. The portrait and obverse inscription clearly belong to the first period of coin production; coins issued for and after the birth of Lucilla feature a completely different hairstyle and obverse inscription and are otherwise well-attested.</blockquote> [ATTACH=full]1335396[/ATTACH]<blockquote>Faustina II, AD 147-175.Roman orichalcum dupondius, 13.03 g, 25.1 mm, 12 h.Rome, early AD 148-March AD 149.Obv: FAVSTINAE AVG PII AVG FIL, bust of Faustina II, draped, with band of pearls, right.Rev: PVDICITIA S C, Pudicitia seated left, arranging drapery on should with right hand and resting left hand on lap; flower below seat.Refs: RIC 1404b; BMCRE 2159; Cohen 187; Strack 1302; RCV 4732.</blockquote> [ATTACH=full]1335398[/ATTACH]<blockquote>Faustina II, AD 147-175/6.Roman Æ as, 9.85 g, 26.0 mm, 6 h.Rome, early AD 148-March AD 149.Obv: FAVSTINAE AVG PII AVG FIL, Bust of Faustina II, draped, with band of pearls, left.Rev: VENVS S C, Venus standing right, drawing veil from shoulder with right hand and holding up apple in left hand.Refs: RIC 1410b (l.); BMCRE 2165; Cohen --; Sear --.Notes: This coin and the usual right-facing bust version were struck only in the middle bronze denomination. </blockquote> Let's see any of your first-issue coins for Faustina II or anything relevant! ~~~ Notes 1. Though metallurgically speaking, orichalcum and copper are distinct metals and neither of them are technically bronze in the modern sense of the word, numismatists typically classify all copper or copper-alloy coinage as bronze. Similarly, for the sake of convenience, the term bronze is used in this article to refer to all such copper-based coins. 2. Beckmann, Martin, Faustina the Younger: Coinage, Portraits, and Public Image, A.N.S. Numismatic Studies 43, American Numismatic Society, New York, 2021, pp. 24 ff. 3. Beckmann, op. cit., p. 29. 4. Glare, P.G.W. Oxford Latin Dictionary. Oxford University Press, 2016; s.v. laetus, 1. 5. Beckmann, op. cit., p. 31.[/QUOTE]

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