Faustina Friday -- A stephane with THAT hairstyle?

While browsing online for coins of Faustina II and her mother, I was struck by the bust type on this sestertius, for it depicted the empress in the final coiffure of her life (this hairstyle persists on coins issued posthumously in her honor) but wearing a stephane. This was a bust type I had never seen before. Typically, when she is depicted with a stephane, it is on coins issued much earlier, with various, but different, coiffures. Moreover, it was a reverse type I did not possess in any denomination. I HAD to acquire such a coin.

Faustina II, AD 147-175.
Roman orichalcum sestertius, 25.68 g, 32.3 mm, 1 h.
Rome, AD 170-175.
Obv: FAVSTINA AVGVSTA, Bust of Faustina II, draped and wearing stephane, right.
Rev: DIANA LVCIFERA S C, Diana standing right, holding lighted torch in both hands.
Refs: RIC 1631; BMCRE 901; Cohen 91; RCV 5272 var. (no stephane); MIR 8-6/10c diad.
Notes: Obverse die-match to the British Museum specimen.​

I wasn't thrilled with its rough surfaces and worn reverse legend, however. So, before buying it, I thought I'd poke around the internet and look for a better example. I did searches at biddr and Emax.Bid to see if any were in upcoming auctions, looked at CNG, FORVM, and VCoins. Tried eBay. Nothing. It looked like this was my only opportunity to buy one at this time.

But was the price right? I went to acsearchinfo and coinarchives to see what recent hammer prices have been and I could only find examples of the coin with the plain bust, without the stephane.

At this point, I realized the coin is quite rare. I poked around a little further. It was not to be found at Wildwinds, The Coin Project, or coinscatalog.com. The single OCRE example turned out to be the specimen in the British Museum, to which mine is an obverse die-match:



The coin is not listed in the antiquarian catalogs of Wiczay or Sultzer. Cohen lists it as no. 91, an example in the French national collection (BnF), with an uncertain reverse legend -- he didn't know if it read DIANA LVCIF or DIANA LVCIFERA S C:



Since the only examples online after an extensive search were the British Museum specimen and the example cited by Cohen, I figured I had better buy it -- rough surfaces notwithstanding -- because I figured I would never have another opportunity. I felt like @David Atherton when he stumbles across a rare Flavian! Is this the third known example of the coin? Possibly, but it's impossible to know if another resides in a museum that does not contribute to OCRE or in private hands.

Post your Faustinas wearing a stephane, coins with an unusual bust type, coins with Diana Lucifera, or anything you feel is relevant!

 

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Isn't it a great feeling? It always gives me the warm fuzzies.

Great coin, BTW!

 

Nice catch, RC. Given the full legends and very recognizable portrait, I don't think the rough surfaces are much of an issue. It probably looks better in hand anyway.

Here is RIC 1630 - same, far more common, coin without the stephane. At least I think so - Faustina and her various torch-bearing Dianas confuse me a bit.

This one seems to have an obverse legend variation, FAVSTINAE:


Faustina II Æ Sestertius
(161-176 A.D.)
Rome Mint
FAVSTINAE [AVGVSTA(E?)], draped bust right. / [DIANA LVCIFERA SC] Diana standing right holding long torch in both hands.
RIC 1630 var. (FAVSTINAE); Cohen 88; BMC 899.
(21.44 grams / 27 mm)

 

Nice find, RC. Haven't seen such hairstyle - stephane combination before.
Thanks for sharing.

 

It's always thrilling to find a rarity, even a rough one. And a Diana Lucfera reverse is something you can't ignore



Q

 

Here is mine with similar hairstyle, but no stepane...

Faustina Junior, Augusta. 170-175/6
AE As, 24mm, 13.61g
Rome Mint.
Obv: Draped bust right
Rev: Cybele seated right, holding drum, between 2 lions
RIC III 1664 (Aurelius)

 

RC a.k.a harp eye … Thank you for sharing.

I noticed another ex.

iNumis Mail Bid Sale 6 07.11.2008 Lot 224
32,0 mm, 22,50 g, 12 h

sharing your obverse die, and an as sold by CNG.

CNGea 289 24.10.2012 Lot 32 (no weight).

MM I was very happy too to see your coin. RIC mentioned FAVSTINAE AVGVSTAE bronzes only with MATRI CASTRORVM reverses.

I hope you will accept I retouched your photo.

Thank you both.

 

Thanks for tracking down another example of my coin. Just curious, how much did the one at the iNumis Mail Bid sale sell for? Same obverse die as mine and the BMC specimen; very different reverse die. That makes four examples (so far).

The as with this reverse type seems to be quite rare, too. It's unlisted in Cohen and RIC, though the British Museum acquired an example, BMCRE 976, in 1913; why it's unlisted, therefore, by RIC is a mystery.

I'm puzzled by @Marsyas Mike's coin. Faustina has the hairstyle she wore from about AD 158-163ish, like those on the DIANA LVCIF coins with the LEFT-facing Diana, but on his, Diana is right-facing. Moreover, the FAVSTINAE ... obverse legend isn't attested for this reverse type. The hairstyle is not at all consistent with the FAVSTINAE AVG PII AVG FIL types of AD 147-149. It's a variety that is unlisted in any of the standard references (RIC, BMCRE, Cohen, Sear, etc).

 

The iNumis ex. was sold 320 €.

I can easily understand your questioning : as acquired in 1913 and RIC III edited in 1930. Maybe just an omission ? In any case, not in RIC addenda nor corrigenda, I checked it too.
Thank you RC, for this as I didn't notice.

Personally, I imagine there's a hairstyle similarity between @Marsyas Mike's ex. and the BM FAVSTINAE AVGVSTAE MATRI CASTRORVM ex. :

What about this DIANA LVCIFERA from Roma Numismatics :

Not a FAVSTINAE, but a hairstyle still closer than the previous one?

 

I came across another one that's currently up for auction. That makes the total inventory:

My coin
BnF coin cited by Cohen
British Museum specimen
iNumis mailbid sale
Artemide Kunstauktionen

 

I don't have much to offer to this conversation, except that it encouraged me to go back and check my Faustina II. No stephane, but I did notice that I have what is probably the earliest depiction of Commodus on a Roman coin. Notice he is already making demands:

Silver Denarius
Rome mint
Obv: FAVSTINA AVGVSTA
Rev: FECVNDITAS - Fecunditas, standing facing right, holding septer in left hand and infant in right
RIC (Marcus Aurelius) 677
19mm, 3.3g.