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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Roman Collector, post: 7604712, member: 75937&quot;]I wanted to update this thread with a photo of a new acquisition to my collection and a discussion of this type informed by Beckmann&#039;s recent volume on the coinage of Faustina II.</p><p><br /></p><p>I was the successful bidder on this lovely sestertius with the earlier, shorter legend, FAVSTINA AVG PII AVG FIL, which was used (dated by Mattingly) from AD 152 to 153.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1309306[/ATTACH]</p><blockquote><p><font size="3">Faustina II, AD 147-175.</font></p><p><font size="3">Roman orichalcum sestertius, 24.17 g, 32.0 mm.</font></p><p><font size="3">Rome, AD 153.</font></p><p><font size="3">Obv: FAVSTINA AVG PII AVG FIL, bare-headed and draped bust, right, with earlier (Beckmann type 2b) coiffure. </font></p><p><font size="3">Rev: S C, Diana, draped, standing front, head left, holding out arrow in right hand and resting left on bow, set on ground.</font></p><p><font size="3">Refs: RIC 1383(3); BMCRE 2180-81; Cohen 206; Strack 1325; Sear 4717.</font></p></blockquote><p><br /></p><p>It is during the production of this issue that the transition to a new hairstyle first occurs (Beckmann, p. 57). He notes an interesting bust type, known to him from a single coin in the British Museum, which shows Faustina&#039;s chignon with &quot;a bold woven pattern rather than the coiled bun normally seen in type 5 portraits (p. 57). This is illustrated below.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1309308[/ATTACH]</p><blockquote><p><font size="3">BMCRE Pius 2184.</font></p></blockquote><p><br /></p><p>Beckmann (p. 84) further notes the portrait ...</p><p><br /></p><blockquote><p>... reflects exactly the appearance of the bun we see on sculpted portraits of Faustina. The detail of the braiding and the proportions of the bun to the head indicate that the die engraver had access to a sculpted Type 5 portrait as a model. It is difficult to say why this manner of engraving Faustina&#039;s bun was not carried out on other obverse dies with Type 5 portraits. Possibly the cutting of the braiding of the bun, with its rectilinear shapes intersecting at right (or near-right) angles, was too difficult and time-consuming, or too prone to error (such as through slippage of the engraving tool), to employ in normal die engraving for this portrait type.</p></blockquote><p><br /></p><p>There then appears the usual Type 5 portrait seen on my coins in the OP above, but which continues the FAVSTINA AVG PII AVG FIL obverse legend. Note the relatively small size of the Type 5 portrait relative to the flan compared to the portrait with the type 2b bust, which anticipates the style of those with the FAVSTINA AVGVSTA AVG PII F which soon follow. Here&#039;s an example in the British Museum.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1309309[/ATTACH]</p><blockquote><p><font size="3">BMCRE Pius 2183.</font></p></blockquote><p><br /></p><p>Cool stuff!!</p><p><br /></p><p>~~~</p><p><br /></p><p>Beckmann, Martin, <i>Faustina the Younger: Coinage, Portraits, and Public Image</i>, A.N.S. Numismatic Studies 43, American Numismatic Society, New York, 2021.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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