Message:

<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Roman Collector, post: 7942776, member: 75937&quot;]I put in a lowball bid on this poor thing at today&#039;s Lucernae auction and I was the only bidder. It <i>doesn&#039;t exactly</i> have 5/5 surfaces.</p><p><br /></p><p><i>Let&#039;s see your abused and neglected coins that nobody else wanted!</i></p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1375099[/ATTACH]</p><blockquote><p><font size="3">Faustina II, AD 147-175.</font></p><p><font size="3">Roman orichalcum sestertius, 23.63g, 34mm, 6h.</font></p><p><font size="3">Rome, summer AD 151 or mid 152- autumn 154. </font></p><p><font size="3">Obv: FAVSTINA AVG PII AVG FIL, bare-headed and draped bust, right.</font></p><p><font size="3">Rev: PIETAS S C, Pietas standing facing, head left, holding flower and cornucopiae, with child standing facing, head to right, to her left. </font></p><p><font size="3">Refs: RIC 1379; BMCRE 2177-79; Cohen 173; RCV 4715; Strack 1321.</font></p><p><font size="3">Notes: Sear identifies the child on the reverse as Lucilla. Ex Antonio Carmona collection, ex-Roma E-sale 82, <a href="https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=8003310" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=8003310" rel="nofollow">lot 1380</a>, 15 April, 2021.</font></p></blockquote><p><br /></p><p>I suspect that at one point, its patina was stripped down to the bare metal but now it&#039;s re-toning. I&#039;m happy with it nonetheless, seeing that it hammered for 75 GBP at a <a href="https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=8003310" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=8003310" rel="nofollow">Roma Numismatics sale</a> just six months ago. The Roma listing says it was from the <a href="https://www.cointalk.com/threads/ex-antonio-carmona.386175/" class="internalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.cointalk.com/threads/ex-antonio-carmona.386175/">Antonio Carmona</a> collection. Here&#039;s the Roma photo:</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1375100[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>The coin&#039;s obverse inscription, FAVSTINA AVG PII AVG FIL, was in use for about four or five months beginning about May AD 151, followed by the FAVSTINA AVG ANTONINI AVG PII FIL legend, which was in use for about seven or eight months, from the end of summer AD 151 to about June AD 152, after which it reverted to the FAVSTINA AVG PII AVG FIL legend, which was in use through the end of AD 155. The empress changed hairstyles, however, about Autumn AD 154. Moreover, this type was only issued in bronze, so Beckmann&#039;s die-linkage study of Faustina&#039;s aurei and [USER=89514]@curtislclay[/USER]&#039;s work on her denarii cannot help with fitting it into the chronology. Dating the coin is therefore a bit tricky: it either dates from about the summer of 151 or sometime between mid 152- autumn 154. You may read more about the issues regarding dating of coins with this obverse inscription <a href="https://www.cointalk.com/threads/faustina-friday-%E2%80%93-a-relative-chronology-for-the-concordia-standing-and-the-concordia-seated-issues.386459/" class="internalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.cointalk.com/threads/faustina-friday-%E2%80%93-a-relative-chronology-for-the-concordia-standing-and-the-concordia-seated-issues.386459/">here</a>.</p><p><br /></p><p>And who is the child on its reverse? Both Cohen and Sear identify her as Lucilla. I&#039;m not sure; it&#039;s hard to figure out which of Faustina&#039;s children it might have been. She had her first child, Domitia Faustina, in 147 CE, and her second, Lucilla, in March of 149. Domitia Faustina likely died by 151. A third child, Faustina III, was born in 150/151, which is a bit early if the coin dates to 152-154, but not necessarily if it is from the summer of 151. A fourth child, Titus Aelius Antoninus, was born in 152. He died in infancy/early childhood. She didn&#039;t have a baby again until 157 or 158. So, assuming the child on this coin represents an actual child in the imperial family and not just an attribute of an allegorical figure of Piety (which it certainly may be), is this Faustina III born in 150/51? Lucilla depicted without her sister? Is it the short-lived Titus??[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

Your name or email address:

Do you already have an account?

• No, create an account now.
• Yes, my password is:
• Forgot your password?

Stay logged in