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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Roman Collector, post: 5337837, member: 75937&quot;]All enviable coins, [USER=88227]@jb_depew[/USER]! All of them would be tied for #1 were that my list. I like the facing Gorgoneion and the youth on dolphin of Tarentum, to be sure, but I&#039;m drawn to the Roman ones. I have always like the big chunky first brass coins of Pisidian Antioch and coins depicting the Lupa Romana, so I find your example very captivating. I really like the portrait on that Commodus sestertius, too! The die flaw on the forehead only adds interest because of its technical aspect.</p><p><br /></p><p>But my favorite of all is the Faustina sestertius. That reverse design was introduced between AD 140 and 144,[1] and probably in 143 as part of an issue to commemorate the dedication of the temple to Diva Faustina that year.[2] What I find most interesting about your coin is the ornate nature of the stephane. Typically, the stephane is depicted of a simple lunate design, such as on my example of your sestertius.</p><p>&nbsp;[ATTACH=full]1225895[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>One of the specimens in the British Museum, (BMCRE <a href="https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/C_R-12522" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/C_R-12522" rel="nofollow">1447</a>, p. 233) has a rather ornate stephane as well, but yours is even more of a stellate, rather than lunate design.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1225897[/ATTACH]</p><p>OP coin for comparison:</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1225906[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>Your coin comes in several bust varieties: A bare-headed version facing right, (BMCRE <a href="https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/C_R-12518" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/C_R-12518" rel="nofollow">1442</a>), a veiled bust without a stephane facing right (BMCRE <a href="https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/C_R-12521" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/C_R-12521" rel="nofollow">1445</a>) or left (Strack 1241 with examples in Munich, Paris and Vienna), and a veiled bust with a stephane facing right (your coin) or left (BMCRE <a href="https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/C_1867-0101-2072" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/C_1867-0101-2072" rel="nofollow">1451</a>). It supposedly comes with a shorter obverse legend (DIVA AVG FAVSTINA), Cohen 243 and 245, cited in RIC as <a href="http://numismatics.org/ocre/id/ric.3.ant.1146Ba" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://numismatics.org/ocre/id/ric.3.ant.1146Ba" rel="nofollow">1146Ba</a> and <a href="http://numismatics.org/ocre/id/ric.3.ant.1146Bb" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://numismatics.org/ocre/id/ric.3.ant.1146Bb" rel="nofollow">1146Bb</a>, but I haven&#039;t been able to confirm the existence of these varieties after a rather exhaustive internet search.</p><p><br /></p><p>The corresponding duponius and denarius with the right-facing veiled bust do not depict the empress wearing the stephane.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1225902[/ATTACH]</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1225903[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>So, that&#039;s probably everything you never wanted to know about your coin.</p><p><br /></p><p>~~~</p><p><br /></p><p>1. Pietas sacrificing over a candelabrum appears muled with an aureus of Antoninus Pius bearing the inscription ANTONINVS AVG PIVS PP TR P COS III, establishing a date of AD 140-144 with certainty. See Beckmann, Martin. <i>Diva Faustina: Coinage and Cult in Rome and the Provinces.</i> American Numismatic Society, 2012, p. 7.</p><p><br /></p><p>2. The portrait-type of Faustina wearing a veil with a stephane commences with the DEDICATIO AEDIS (&quot;Dedication of the Temple&quot;) type; we know from non-numismatic sources the temple was dedicated in AD 143.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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