Modern fake or fourrée? (Faustina Sr denarius)

Hi all, curious of your opinions on this one. I picked this up a couple months back, either as part of a CNG or Leu bulk denarii lot.



There are a few obvious problems with this one. On the obverse, the empress' name is misspelled as FAVSTINI rather than FAVSTINA. It appears the die was engraved like that, rather than part of the "A" wearing off on the die.

And then the reverse is not a Diva Faustina reverse at all, but instead the reverse of a standard Antoninus Pius denarius, probably RIC 153: TR POT COS IIII, Pax standing left, holding branch and cornucopiae.

The coin weighs 2.88g, measures 18.5mm diameter, and appears to have been struck rather than cast (note the double-strike on the brow/nose of the portrait as well as the obverse inscription).

I wasn't able to find any fakes matching this one on the Forum Ancient Coins fakes list, and my Google-fu has come up lacking in finding any similar coin elsewhere online. Any ideas?

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

It's interesting. Never seen FAVSTINI either. Possible it's a contemporary imitation.

 

Interesting. Style is off on the portrait and the lettering. I very much suspect it is an unofficial imitative issue/contemporary counterfeit and not a hybrid produced by the mint at Rome.