happy_collector

I guess early dynastic empresses have limited authority over the matter. I wonder if Sabina and Julia Titi would complain when they see their coins with emperor-looking portraits instead of theirs. 

On the other hand, there are surely coins minted with great portraits, such as Agrippina Junior, Faustina Junior and the five Julias. Just my thoughts.

A nice big coin with great portrait, @Julius Germanicus. Thanks for sharing.

I don't have one with Aeternitas on the reverse design, but a Vesta instead. 

Diva Faustina Sestertius
Obv: DIVA-FAVSTINA Draped bust of Faustina right.
Rev: AVGVSTA / S - C Veiled Vesta standing left, leaning with right hand on flaming torch
30mm, 24.95g
N&N London auction. January 2023.

A wonderful selection, @Ryro. My favorites are 1, 2, 4 and 5. I like mythic themes on coins, and your Lernaean Hydra (#5) and Ceryneian hind (#4) are both great examples. Your #2 coin has a nice Claudia Octavia portrait. Good Athena portrait for your #1 coin, with such a cool-looking helmet! 🙂 

All stunning coins, @filolif! I like them all. Thanks for sharing. 🙂

Thanks for your another great Faustina Friday article, @Roman Collector. I enjoy seeing the cool coins and reading the details behind.

Here is a sestertius I believe belongs to the similar time period. 🙂

Faustina Junior. Augusta, AD 161. Æ Sestertius (32mm, 23.18 g, 12h). Rome mint. 
Obv: Draped bust right, hair waved and fastened in chignon with a band of pearls low at back of head
Rev: Juno, holding infant, standing left between two young girls.
RIC III 1649; MIR 18,18-6a; Banti 75.
CNG e-Auction, Nov 2022. 

Nice Domitia coins! It is great to see the different Domitia coin designs.
I only have one Domitia coin, and hope to add more in the near future. 🙂

Phrygia, Laodicea ad Lycum. Kornelios Dioskourides, magistrate.

Obv: Draped bust right.
Rev: Tetrastyle temple.
RPC II 1290; SNG von Aulock 3846; BMC 188.
Æ (20mm, 4.89g, 6h).
London Ancient Coins. Dec 2021

I love coins with good portraits, and those with interesting mythic themes. Here are the 4 favorites in my collection:

1. Faustina Junior Aureus. I really like the young Faustina Junior portrait. 
2. Syracuse Tetradrachm. Agathocles. A wonderful portrait of Kore on the obverse.
3. Hadrianopolis, Thrace. Geta AE. Herakles fighting Lernaean Hydra is a very cool mythic theme to me. 
4. Gortyna, Crete Stater. Another great mythic theme on Europa. 

Great addition, Donna. Thanks for sharing a coin with such unique reverse type. Never heard about Tellvs before. 🙂 

Great addition, @robinjojo!  I like your Starr II with a good portion of the crest. It is so nice to have such a collection of Starr II via V, plus the mass-produced Owl. Here is my Starr II, with just a minimal crest. 

10 minutes ago, Roman Collector said:

That coin is scarce in any grade! Be proud of it! You may read more about your coin in this installment of Faustina Friday. I too have this type in my collection, but it was produced with a different die pair from yours.

 

Thanks for your additional information, @Roman Collector. Great to learn more about the coin. 🙂

Thanks for your nice thread, @Prieure de Sion. It is an interesting read. 

I recently picked up a Nero / Agrippina Junior tetradrachm from Antioch. Photo is from CNG (as the coin still in the mail). 🙂

SELEUCIS and PIERIA, Antioch. Nero, with Agrippina Junior. AD 56-57 (CY 3).
AR Tetradrachm (25mm, 14.30 g, 12h). 
Obv: Head of Nero right wearing oak wreath
Rev: Draped bust of Agrippina Junior right; Γ EP (date) to right.
McAlee 253; RPC I 4175; Prieur 74. 

Great thread, and congrats to your addition, @Roman Collector. I agree that left-facing Faustina coins do not come up so often. I picked up this left-facing Faustina Senior earlier this year, even though it is over-cleaned and reverse very blurry. Well, I guess the most important thing is a recognizable Faustina portrait.  🙂

Faustina Senior.  AE Sestertius, under Antoninus Pius. 141 AD.
Obv: DIVA AVGVSTA FAVSTINA. Veiled and draped bust of Diva Faustina I wearing stephane
Rev: PIET-AS AVG, S C across field. Pietas standing facing left. 
31mm, 24.94g.

I recently picked up a second Alexandrian tetradrachm. My first was a Nero/Poppaea, so this one with Agrippina Junior is a good "companion coin" to add.  🙂

Egypt, Alexandria. 58-59 AD. 
Obv: Laureate Head of Nero.
Rev: Draped bust of Agrippina Junior.
24.2mm. 12.19g.
 

Nice addition, @expat. Here are the Trajan denarius, AE As, and sestertius in my collection. 

Nice Fausta bronzes from various mints. I picked up one from Siscia.

Fausta, Augusta, 325 AD. Follis. Siscia mint, Δ = 4th officina.
Obv: FLAV MAX FAVSTA AVG Bare-headed and draped bust of Fausta to right.
Rev. SPES REIPVBLICAE / ΔSIS(wreath) Fausta standing left, holding two children in her arms.
RIC 197
Bronze, 20 mm, 3.66 g, 6 h
Nomos. Oct 2021

Great coins! I picked up this Geta denarius a few days ago. 🙂 

Geta (as Caesar) 198-208, Silver Denarius
Obv: Draped bust of Geta right "P SEPT GETA CAES PONT"
Rev: Felicitas standing left holding a caduceus and cornucopiae "FELICITAS PVBLICA"
RSC 38a.  18mm, 3.20g

I only have a single coin on Geta, and it has a quite interesting reverse design.  

THRACE. Hadrianopolis. Geta (209-211). AE 
Obv: AVT K Π CEΠTMIOC ΓETAC. Laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right.
Rev: AΔPIANOΠOΛITΩN. Herakles standing left, fighting Lernean Hydra which he grasps with his left hand, wielding club with right.
Varbanov 3685.
28mm, 12.43 g.
Numismatik Naumann. April 2022

Great writeup and coins, @Roman Collector. Thanks for the photos, video and description. 🙂

Faustina II's early hairstyle with young portrait is my all-time favorite. Here are a few I picked up and posted before. 

Nice post! Reminds me that I am still on a lookout for a Nero denarius. Here are my provincial examples.

Nero with Poppaea

Nero with Agrippina

Here is one on a Faustina Junior AE As coin:

Faustina Junior. Augusta. AD 170-175. AE As. Rome mint. Struck under Marcus Aurelius. 
Obv: Draped bust right.
Rev: Cybele seated right, hold drum on knee, between two lions.
RIC III 1664 (Aurelius); MIR 18, 25-7c.
CNG auction. October 2020. 
24mm, 13.61g, 6h.

I agree that collecting coin pairs as a min-theme is fun, @Valentinian.
Here is my Emperor-Empress pair.

and, here is my mother-and-daughter coin pair.

I think Faustina Senior is a great lady, as she involved in charity and the education of the girls. Antoninus Pius established "Puellae Faustinianae", or the Girls of Faustina, in her memory. 

Small super owls...

and a big one... 🙂

Here is a cupid biga, and a coin with Eros. 🙂

Caracalla Æ 18mm of Hadrianopolis, Thrace. AD 198-217.
Obv: ΑVΤ Κ Μ ΑVΡ CΕΥ ΑΝΤΩΝEΙΝΟC, laureate head to right
Rev: ΑΔΡΙΑΝΟΠΟΛΕΙΤΩΝ, Eros standing to right, resting on torch set on altar.
Youroukova, Hadrianople 390; Varbanov 3526, CNT 5217; SNG Copenhagen 571.
3.25g, 18mm, 1h.
ROMA 2021. 

12 minutes ago, DonnaML said:

I hadn't posted any new write-ups for a while, but all of a sudden in the last week I've gotten six new coins in the mail, and six new write-ups to share. (I believe I broke the jinx rule by posting the photos of a couple of them in relevant threads before they arrived, but I hadn't written them up yet. That's a self-imposed rule I never break, because I'm sure disaster would follow!)

If anyone reads all the way to the end, I do have questions about the final coin. Such as: does anyone have any idea what dealer or auction house the notation "PB 12/18/99" on the accompanying old coin envelope might refer to? I can't think of anyone. 

1. One of the Trajan types that I had wanted for a while, to go with Trajan's Column and Danuvius and the various coins commemorating the Dacian conquest, etc.

Trajan AR Denarius, AD 113, Rome Mint. Obv. Laureate bust right with light drapery on far shoulder, IMP TRAIANO AVG GER DAC P M TR P COS VI PP / Rev. Female figure personifying the Via Traiana, nude above waist, reclining right (from viewer’s perspective) on rock outcropping, head turned to right; supporting wheel set on knee with right hand, and holding branch with left hand,  S P Q R OPTIMO PRINCIPI; in exergue, VIA TRAIANA. RIC II 266, RSC II 648 (ill. p. 102), BMCRE III 487, Sear RCV II 3173 (ill. p. 105). 18 mm., 3.48 g., 6 h. Purchased from Classical Numismatic Group, LLC (CNG) E-Auction 531, Jan. 26, 2023.*

*This issue “records the construction in AD 109 of the Via Traiana, an important highway which replaced the Via Appia as the preferred route between Beneventum [in Campania]  and the port city of Brundisium on the Atlantic coast.” Sear RCV II, p. 106.

2. A coin that's in mediocre condition, but has a nice, solid feel to it in hand and a great patina. And, it turns out, is a rather scarce variety. Plus, it's now my earliest sestertius.

Hadrian AE Sestertius, Rome Mint 137- Jul 138 AD (RIC II.3: “Group 13 – Time of the Caesars”). Obv. Bare head right, HADRIANVS – AVG COS III P P / Rev. Aequitas standing left holding scales in right hand and long scepter upright in left, AEQVI – [T]AS AVG; S – C across lower fields. RIC II.3 2371 (p. 232) & Pl. 173 (Scarce with bare head); numismatics.org/ocre/id/ric.2_3(2).hdn.2371; Cohen 123; BMCRE III Hadrian 1482 var. (laureate) (see 1482 fn. at p. 465, citing Cohen 123 for bare-headed variety); Sear RCV II 3573 var. (laureate). 31 mm., 23.55 g. Purchased from Harlan J. Berk, Ltd., 222nd Buy or Bid Sale, Feb. 2023, Lot 270. Link to video of coin: https://www.hjbltd.com/#!/inventory/item-detail/ancient-coins/96793.

3. A specimen that's not only in what I think is great condition -- with the obverse legend entirely preserved -- but looks like it actually has a decent amount of silver content. And fits very well with my Roman Republican M. Volteius snake biga coin showing Ceres in charge of the pair, previously posted in @Roman Collector's thread on that subject (see https://www.numisforums.com/topic/1193-faustina-friday-–-snake-biga-edition/#comment-35371 ). Plus, if I really cared about such minuscule variations -- which I don't! -- the date placement entirely above the serpents combined with a left-facing bust appears to be very scarce, with Milne the only catalog or other source that cites an example.

Hadrian, Billon Tetradrachm, Year 21 (AD 136/137), Alexandria, Egypt Mint. Obv. Laureate bust left, slight drapery on far shoulder, ΑΥΤ ΚΑΙϹ ΤΡΑ ΑΔΡΙΑΝΟϹ ϹƐΒ / Rev. Triptolemus standing right, wearing chlamys, in biga drawn by two winged serpents crowned with pschents/skhents [the double crown of Upper and Lower Egypt], his left hand holding up front of chlamys to form a pouch filled with seeds, and his right hand raised to scatter the seeds, L KA (Year 21) above serpents to right. RPC Vol. III 6135 (2015) & RPC III Online 6135 at https://rpc.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/coins/3/6135 (date placement var.; no example with this coin’s date placement in RPC or found in acearch); Milne 1531 (same date placement, “above to right,” as this coin); SNG France 4, Alexandrie II 2007 (ill. Pl. an 21/1) (date placement var.); Emmett 900.21; K&G 32.723; Dattari (Savio) 1485 (obv. bust var. [right], date placement var., same specimen as Staffieri 90 [Triton XXI, 9 Jan 2018], ill. p. 52); BMC 16 Alexandria 582 (ill. Pl. II) (obv. bust var. [right], date placement var.); Sear RCV II 3746 (obv. bust var. [right], date placement var.). 23 mm., 12.90 g., 11 h. Purchased from Classical Numismatic Group, LLC [CNG] Electronic Auction 531, 25 Jan 2023, Lot 710.*

*See https://www.forumancientcoins.com/numiswiki/view.asp?key=Triptolemus: “Triptolemus was a demi-god of the Eleusinian mysteries who presided over the sowing of grain-seed and the milling of wheat. His name means "He who Pounds the Husks."  In myth, Triptolemos was one of the Eleusinian princes who kindly received Demeter [Ceres] when she came mourning the loss of her daughter Persephone [Proserpina]. The young goddess was eventually returned to her from the Underworld, and Demeter in her munificence, instructed Triptolemos in the art of agriculture, and gave him a winged chariot drawn by serpents so that he might travel the world spreading her gift. Source:  http://www.theoi.com/Georgikos/EleusiniosTriptolemos.html.”

4. This one's in rather rough shape on the reverse, but I still like it a lot; I didn't have a facing Agathodaemon and Uraeus before. Plus, although I was a bit worried from the photo, upon examination there does not appear to be any active bronze disease on the reverse: the green deposits are all quite solid and not flaky, even after soaking for 24 hours in distilled water.

Hadrian, AE Drachm, Year 18 (133/134 AD), Alexandria, Egypt Mint. Obv. Laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust right, seen from behind, ΑΥΤ ΚΑΙϹ ΤΡΑΙΑΝ - ΑΔΡΙΑΝΟϹ ϹƐΒ / Rev. Serpents Agathodaemon* on left, coiled around a caduceus, and Uraeus [sacred cobra, worn by deities and pharaohs] on right, coiled around [poppies and] a sistrum, both serpents crowned with pschents/skhents [the double crown of Upper and Lower Egypt], facing each other; LI - H (date) across fields. RPC Vol. III 5908 (2015) & RPC III Online 5908 at https://rpc.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/coins/3/5908; Milne 1424 (p. 34); Emmett 908.18; K&G 32.574; Dattari (Savio) 1991; BMC 16 Alexandria 844 (p. 92); Sear RCV II 3771 (date placement var.). 33 mm., 24.02 g., 12 h. Purchased from Classical Numismatic Group, LLC [CNG] Electronic Auction 531, 25 Jan 2023, Lot 701. 

* The serpent Agathodaemon or Agathos Daimon -- translated variously as good spirit, noble spirit, or good genius -- was sacred to Serapis, and was worshipped in every Egyptian town. “On the coins he is always represented erect, and usually wearing the skhent, in the midst of corn and poppies, generally with a caduceus, also rising from the ground.”  BMC 16 Alexandria, p. lxxxvi. The Numiswiki definition of Agathodaemon, at https://www.forumancientcoins.com/numiswiki/view.asp?key=Agathodaemon, states as follows: “Agathodaemon (Greek: ‘good spirit’) was a god of the vineyards and grainfields and of good luck, health and wisdom. It was customary to drink or pour out a glass of unmixed wine to honor him in every meal. He was the spouse or companion of Tyche Agathe (later Agatha). He was represented in art as a serpent or as a young man bearing a cornucopia and a bowl in one hand, and a poppy and an ear of corn [U.S.: grain] in the other. The agathodaemon was later adapted into a general daemon of good luck, particularly of the abundance of a family 's good food and drink.” 

It should be noted that there is a wide variety of coin types showing the Agathodaemon, under Hadrian and other emperors (and empresses) from Nero to Gallienus. For example,  the serpent Agathodaemon frequently appears on tetradrachms, diobols, and drachms, and is shown both with and without the caduceus and corn stalks -- and, sometimes, when they are present, with the corn stalks to the left and the caduceus to the right. The Agathodaemon is also sometimes shown with the head of Serapis, and sometimes, as here, appears with the Uraeus snake facing it.

The article entitled “The Agathos Daimon in Greco-Egyptian religion,” by João Pedro Feliciano, at https://www.academia.edu/27115429/The_Agathos_Daimon_in_Greco-Egyptian_religion  is quite informative, and it's worth quoting it extensively even though its primary focus is on the Agathodaemon as represented on stelae and statues, rather than on coins:

“The Agathos Daimon, or ‘Good Spirit,’ was a multifaceted deity of ancient Mediterranean religion, usually depicted as a serpent, having its origins in the notion of the household god. The Good Spirit was honoured in both Greek and Roman religions, depicted as a serpent on Roman shrines and lararia, and honoured as a harbinger of luck among the Greeks. However, his most developed form flourished in Ptolemaic and Roman Egypt, where the Agathos Daimon became an exalted deity, far beyond the status of a household god, becoming associated with Shai and Kematef, the Egyptian creator gods, who were similarly depicted as serpents in the extant iconography, as well as taking on solar attributes and becoming conflated with Pre and Helios as a result of late Egyptian theological innovations. . . . .

[T]he Agathos Daimon (Greek: agathos daimôn; also agathodaimôn), the ‘good spirit,’ [was] a typically serpentine deity who originated as a genius loci1 in traditional Greek religion, and was also invoked during banquets. A variant of this deity was Zeus Meilichios (invoked in Orphic Hymn 73, to Zeus as the Daimon), an old serpentine aspect of Zeus associated with fortune. Roman religion had a cognate genius figure as well, evidenced by the traditional snakes found on Roman domestic shrines and lararia. The origins of the guardian serpent archetype may be traced to the fact that snakes could protect a house from vermin, such as rodents, and consequently became associated with guardian spirits early on; this notion of the beneficent ‘house snake’  is found in several different cultures.. . . .”

5. This one's in even rougher shape, but I had no example of an Apis bull with sun disk before, so I bought it anyway:

Hadrian, AE Diobol, Year 18 (133/134 AD), Alexandria, Egypt Mint. Obv. Laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust right, seen from front, ΑΥΤ ΚΑΙϹ ΤΡΑΙΑΝ - ΑΔΡΙΑΝΟϹ ϹƐΒ / Rev. Apis bull standing right before altar, with sun disk between its horns and crescent on its side; [L in exergue and] IH above bull (Year 18).  RPC [Roman Provincial Coinage] Vol. III 5928 (2015) &  RPC III Online 5928 at https://rpc.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/coins/3/5928 ; Emmett 1114.18; BMC 16 Alexandria 812 p. 95 (date placement var.) (ill. Pl. XXV & RPC Online 5928, example 1); Milne 1436 (date placement var.); Dattari (Savio) 1922. 24 mm., 7.90 g., 11 h. Purchased from Classical Numismatic Group, LLC [CNG] Electronic Auction 531, 25 Jan 2023, Lot 702.

6. Last but I don't think least, a Provincial type of Septimius Severus that I know I'd never seen before, and found quite intriguing. Wholly apart from the fact that it's quite scarce: only six examples in acsearch. Plus, any thoughts are welcome on the identity of the 1999 seller, and on possible interpretations of the reverse design, a question raised by jochen1 in a thread I found on Forvm Ancient Coins from back in 2006.

Septimius Severus, AE Tetrassarion, AD 201-203, Moesia Inferior, Nicopolis ad Istrum, struck for Septimius Severus by Aurelius Gallus, legatus Augusti pro praetore. Obv. Laureate head right, AV • K • L • CEΠ – CEVHPOC • Π[ligate with E?] / Rev. River-god Istros, laureate, nude to hips, reclining right (from viewer’s perspective), head turned to right, holding with right hand a tree with four foliate twigs and resting left elbow on urn from which water flows, VΠA AVP GALLOV NEIKOΠ[or T??]; in exergue, ΠPOC IC. AMNG I/I 1310 [Pick, Behrendt, Die antiken Münzen von Dacien und Moesien, Die antiken Münzen Nord-Griechenlands Vol. I/I  (Berlin, 1898) at p. 366 (ill. Pl. XVII nr. 34), available at https://archive.org/details/p1dieantikenmn01akaduoft/page/366/mode/2up?view=theater]*;  HH&J 8.14.32.14 [Hristova, H., H.-J. Hoeft, & G. Jekov, The Coins of Moesia Inferior 1st - 3rd c. AD: Nicopolis ad Istrum (Blagoevgrad, 2015)]; Varbanov (Eng.) Vol. I, 2642 [Ivan Varbanov, Greek Imperial Coins And Their Values, Volume I: Dacia, Moesia Superior & Moesia Inferior (English Edition) (Bourgas, Bulgaria, 2005)](var. legends). Possible die match to examples sold by Künker in April 2017 (see https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=3782272) and  posted by Jochen1 at Forvm Ancient coins in March 2006 (see https://www.forumancientcoins.com/board/index.php?topic=26898.msg175825#msg175825). 27 mm., 17.54 g., 1 h.  Purchased from Classical Numismatic Group, LLC (CNG) E-Auction 531, Jan. 25, 2023, Lot 478; from the Dr. Michael Slavin Collection of River-God Coins, previous purchase “PB 12/18/99” according to accompanying coin envelope.

*Here is the Pick description of AMNG 1310, which appears to have the same legends as this coin, except for the possible additional letter “E” ligate with the final Π in this coin’s obverse legend, proposed by Dr. Slavin in his coin description on the accompanying envelope:

Can someone who reads German please let me know if there's anything interesting in the commentary? And what Pick says about the possibility of a T rather than a Π as the letter at the end of the word NEIKOΠ in the reverse legend?

**Here are the Künker and Jochen1 specimens:

Note that the Künker specimen, like mine, also appears to have an additional ligatured letter at the end of the obverse legend. 

The Jochen1 2006 Forvm thread is also of interest for the speculation concerning the possible symbolism of Istros’s head being turned back, and his grasping of the tree.
 

 

Nice additions, Donna. I really like your Hadrian snake biga with date placement variant. Very special. 🙂