Antoninus Pius left facing?

[Paula]

Good evening.

Would anyone be able to help me with a coin that I inherited from my late father. I'm struggling to find information. Im gathering that left facing busts were not so common?Thank you

[Paula]

[Roman Collector]

In the Antonine series, left-facing busts are generally less common than the right-facing ones, though they are well-attested. I believe your coin is this orichalcum sestertius with Fides on the reverse. It may even be an obverse die-match.


RIC 716b; BMCRE 1608n; Cohen 425; Banti 176; Strack 933. Editions V. Gadoury (Auction 2018), 16.11.2018, lot 117.

[Paula]

Roman collector many thanks for your reply and the information you've supplied. It most certainly looks like the one! What does obverse die match mean sorry (I've no idea on these things).

[CPK]

15 hours ago, Paula said:

Roman collector many thanks for your reply and the information you've supplied. It most certainly looks like the one! What does obverse die match mean sorry (I've no idea on these things).

It means that the two different coins were minted using the same individual obverse, or portrait, die. Since ancient coin dies were all carved by hand, every one is unique - kind of like a fingerprint - and can be matched to other coins minted with the same die. Studying and matching different dies from a given coin type can give scholars very valuable information about a coin. Additionally, a coin that is die-matched to a well-known specimen, say a coin in a museum, is more likely (although not absolutely) to be genuine.

[Paula]

Ah I see! Thank you so much for all the information it's so interesting.

I'm in the UK and have emailed a couple people asking for information/valuation but haven't heard back from either.

I want to sell the coin as Its not something that I will add to a collection etc and it may be something someone else would love.

[CPK]

5 hours ago, Paula said:

Ah I see! Thank you so much for all the information it's so interesting.

I'm in the UK and have emailed a couple people asking for information/valuation but haven't heard back from either.

I want to sell the coin as Its not something that I will add to a collection etc and it may be something someone else would love.

The coin type is listed in the reference RIC (Roman Imperial Coinage), volume III, No. 716b for Antoninus Pius: 

Online Coins of the Roman Empire: RIC III Antoninus Pius 716B (numismatics.org)

It's on the rare side, for sure, but unfortunately it is also in somewhat poor condition. I'd say it's probably not worth more than $75 or say 60 GBP.