A Faustina Junior Sestertius, Pudicitia seated reverse, plus a couple of Faustina Senior asses

A few weeks ago I came across this scarce Pudicitia SC sestertius of Faustina Junior. This is the variety with Pudicitia seated, facing left.

This example is not in great shape. The surfaces are rough, especially on the obverse, and there's corrosion in spots. The reverse is really much better, with a nicely detailed Pudicitia seated, and that's why I purchased the coin.

Roman Empire, circa 147/9 AD
AE Sestertius
Faustina Junior
Obverse: Portrait of a young Faustina II, facing right.
Reverse: Pudicitia seated, facing left, pulling gown with right hand.
31 mm, 12h
20.1 grams
RIC #?
Some smoothing.
Scarce



I also got a couple of Faustina Senior asses recently. Both coins are pretty low grade, but identifiable.

Roman Empire, circa 141 AD
AE as
Faustina Senior
Obverse: Deified portrait of Faustina Senior, facing right.
Reverse: Aeternitas seated on globe, facing left, with scepter to the right, extended right hand.
RIC 1159
27.5 mm, 6 h.
10.8 grams
Rough surfaces and cleaned (re-toning).



The following coin is part of three coin lot from France.

This is very shiny coin (treated with Ren Wax), and the reflective surfaces obscure some detail.

Roman Empire, circa 141 AD
AE as
Faustina Senior
Obverse: DIVAFAV STINA, Deified portrait of Faustina Senior, facing right.
Reverse: Ceres standing left, holding grain ears and torch.
RIC III, pg 167, #1169
27.5 mm, 6 h.
9.6 grams
RIC #?
25 mm, 1h.
9.6 grams
Somewhat rough surfaces.

 

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Very nice new trio. I'm pretty sure @Roman Collector will visit your thread soon...

 

Nice Faustina bronzes!
Personal preference is Faustina Junior. Like her various hairstyles.

 

I do love a good Faustina thread, indeed!

Nice coins, @robinjojo! I particularly like the sestertius of Faustina II. It's scarce and I don't have an example in my collection. It's RIC 1381; BMCRE 2142. It was one of the first coins issued by Antoninus Pius for his daughter. The obverse legend, FAVSTINAE AVG PII AVG FIL is the earliest and is dated by Strack to 147-149 and by Sear to AD 148-152.

The Faustina I AETERNITAS as is also scarce and I don't own an example of this coin, either. It likely dates to the large issue of AD 150 to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the empress's death. It was only issued in the middle bronze denomination, without a corresponding sestertius. It comes in three bust varieties: bare-headed, veiled, and veiled and stephaned. Yours is RIC 1159; BMCRE 1551; Cohen 22; Strack 1266.

The third one is challenging because of the lack of legible inscriptions. I suspect it reads DIVA FAVSTINA on the obverse, simply because there isn't a reverse type with the earlier DIVA AVG FAVSTINA legend that this could be. I don't believe the reverse is Ceres, for she holds her right hand too high; on the issues with Ceres holding grain ears and torch, her arm is angled much lower to the ground, such as:


I wonder if it is RIC 1178; BMCRE 1581; Cohen 114; Strack 1295, with Vesta, veiled, standing l., holding palladium and long torch, such as the example in the British Museum:



I also wonder about RIC 1155; BMCRE 1540; Cohen 29; Strack 1263, with the AETERNITAS S C legend and Juno (?), veiled, standing front, head l., extending r. hand and holding vertical scepter. Here is the example in the British Museum:



So, I'm not sure the identity of your third coin. I don't have one in my collection to share.

Enjoy your coins!

 

Thank you. I don't really focus on Roman coinage, resulting in a rather disjointed collection, eclectic I guess some would call.

 

Thanks.

This is the first early Faustina II coin that I have ever owned. I must say that's a very coy depiction of Pudicitia. I've seen the standing Pudicitia variety, and she appears to be hitching her skirt.

 

Thank you, and thanks for the information. I am very sorry about the bad quality of the Faustina I as with Ceres photo. The camera is picking up every imperfection and creating blurry distortions. I need to take a clearer picture of this coin, so I need to experiment with lighting.

The legend is readable with the coin in hand.

The obverse legend reads DIVAFAV STINA, with the break occurring above her portrait.

The reverse has a rough shiny surface (as does the obverse) , but enough letters are readable for the legend AVGVSTA. The spacing appears, from left to right, to be AVG, then the head of Ceres, followed by VSTA on the other side of her scepter.

it seems that the engraver attempted to cram DIVAFAVSTINA on the left side of the obverse, but ran out of room, or the engraver just decided to put as many letters to the left of her portrait, and the remainder to the right. It's kind of strange, but it could be that this coin had a rather big production run, so quality control, such as existed back then, was minimal for this issue.

 

I just imaged this coin I purchased within the last few weeks from a favorite seller for moderns. I have been collecting modern world coins for decades but have been adding ancients in the last few years that I find with nice eye appeal to broaden the collection.

Apparently this one was sent to Stephen Album for auction 506 but went unsold.

Faustina Junior, 146-176
AR denarius, 3.26g
RIC-497

 

Faustina I. Deified late wife of Antoninus Pius. Circa 150 CE. Orichalcum sestertius. 32mm, 21.38g. Rome mint.

Obverse: DIVA FAVSTINA, bust of Faustina right.

Reverse: AETERNITAS S C, Aeternitas standing left, holding a phoenix on a globe in her right hand and holding her skirt with her left hand. Van Meter 18/1; RIC 1105.

My understanding is that the most recent scholarship suggests that this type was minted around the ten year anniversary of Faustina I's death.

 

Diva Faustina Senior. Died AD 140/1. Æ Dupondius. Rome mint.
Struck under Antoninus Pius, AD 146-161.
O: Draped bust right
R: Vesta standing left, sacrificing with patera over altar and holding palladium.
RIC III 1180

 

*

 

On many (most?) issues with the later DIVA FAVSTINA legend, the break in the inscription comes in two varieties: DIVA-FAVSTINA and DIVA FAV-STINA. These are not given separate numbers by the editors of RIC, though the British Museum catalog notes the breaks in the inscriptions of all coins, on obverse and reverse.

I'd like to see a better photo of your coin when you are able to post it.

 

Interesting sestertius. That type of Pudicitia reverse appears to be much more common for Otacilia Severa and other later empresses:

Otacilia Severa, Roman Empire, AE sestertius, 244–249 AD, Rome mint. Obv: MARCIA OTACIL SEVERA AVG; bust of Otacilia Severa, diademed, draped, r. Rev: PVDICITIA AVG; Pudicitia, draped, veiled, seated l., r. hand drawing veil and holding sceptre in l. hand; in exergue, SC. 31mm, 17.62g. Ref: RIC IV, Philip I 209.

Here is a standing version of Pudicitia for Herennia Etruscilla, struck from a worn die and purchased from the last FSR bargain list:

Herennia Etruscilla, Roman Empire, AR antoninianus, 249–251 AD, Rome mint. Obv: HER ETRVSCILLA AVG; bust of Herennia Etruscilla, diademed, draped, on crescent, r. Rev: PVDICITIA AVG; Pudicitia, draped, veiled, standing l., drawing veil with r. hand, holding sceptre in l. hand. 22mm, 4.13g. Ref: RIC IV Trajan Decius 58.

 

Nice coins. Here's my example of the Faustina II seated Pudicitia sestertius (RIC 1381) - there's no reverse legend remaining, so I am basing my attribution on the figure:


Faustina II Æ Sestertius
(c. 147-150 A.D.)
Rome Mint
FAVSTINAE AVG PII [AVG FIL], draped bust right / [PVDICITIA], Pudicitia seated left, drawing out veil with right hand, left hand in lap, S C in field.
RIC 1381; BMCRE 2143.
(26.33 grams / 29 x 27 mm)

 

kool pickups Mike...i'm almost convinced mine is a dupondius, but there's a shadow of doubt....(and @Roman Collector has told me a dozen times who's on the reverse, but i can't remember...making a flip & ID for it TODAY! ) Diva Faustina Ae 25mm 11.09gms

 

Vesta holding a Palladium and scepter.

 

...thank you...again! writing it down as we type/speak)

 

Nice AE's, @robinjojo ! I like that little collection!

FAUSTINA II / Jr


RI
Faustina Jr 161-175 CE
Ar Denarius 17mm 3g
Faustina II, wife of Marcus Aurelius and daughter of Antoninus Pius, struck under Antoninus Pius.
FAVSTINA – AVGVST Draped bust of Faustina right
AVGVSTI – PII FIL Spes standing left, holding flower and raising skirt.
Ex: @Brian Bucklan

 

My Faustina Senior has Pietas in the reverse.
It is an AE Sestertius. 29mm, 21.97g.
Rome Mint. RIC1127

 

That's a match with my as, at least for the obverse, with the legend reading DIVAFAV STINA.

The reverse of your coin depicts Pietas, while my coin has Ceres.

This leads me to wonder if the same engraver created the dies for both coins, a possibility.

 

That's sure a possibility. Maybe the reverse die breaks too early, so have to match with something else.