Faustina Friday – The Bronze IVNONI LVCINAE Issues of Faustina the Younger Commemorating the Birth of Domitia Faustina

[Roman Collector]

Friday felicitations, fellow Faustina Fanatics! I hope this weekend brings you success at the online auctions and much collecting joy. Today I'm going to do a deep dive into the die varieties for the bronze denominations of a single reverse type, the IVNONI LVCINAE type of December 147 CE to commemorate the birth of Faustina the Younger's firstborn child, Domitia Faustina, born on 30 November 147. We know from Martin Beckmann's die-linkage study of Faustina's aurei that three reverse types were issued nearly simultaneously in gold for the occasion. Each of the reverse types refers to the birth of Domitia Faustina in their iconography.[1] These are: Venus Genetrix, Juno Lucina, and Laetitia Publica. These designs were also issued in the sestertius and middle bronze denominations; however, only the Laetitia Publica design was also issued in silver. I have already written an overview of these reverse types, so I'm not going to repeat that; rather, I'm going to focus on my new acquisition, a sestertius illustrated below, and the corresponding medium bronze issue.

Faustina II, 147-175 CE.
Roman orichalcum sestertius, 25.25 g, __ mm, 11 h.
Rome, December 147 CE.
Obv: FAVSTINAE AVG PII AVG FIL, bare-headed and draped bust, right.
IVNONI LVCINAE S C, Juno standing facing, head left, holding patera and scepter.
Refs: RIC 1377; BMCRE p. 372‡; Cohen 133; Strack 1299; RCV –; Banti 74; Cayon 58.

It's a shame the obverse is quite corroded, but it's such a rare piece that I probably won't have another opportunity to acquire another tor some time, possibly years. A comprehensive database search and review of the literature yields only five known specimens of the sesterius with the bare headed bust and two with a stephaned bust.[2] All told, I have identified three obverse dies and four reverse dies used in its production. The only one for which I do not have a photo is the Vienna specimen cited by Strack. I catalog the various dies and illustrate the known specimens, below.

Sestertius Dies

Obverse 1, Reverse A

The specimen in my collection, ex-Curtis Clay, Harlan J. Berk, 229^th Buy or Bid sale, lot 160, 5 October 2024.

Specimen sold by vendobjets, eBay FR, lot 111381078283, 20 June 2014.

Obverse 1, Reverse B

Bibliothèque nationale de France FG 2962 (Cohen 133), Gauthier-Dussart pl. 105, 1780.

CGB, E-auction 565-504771, brm 895890, 12 February 2024.

Obverse 2, Reverse C

Cayón Subastas, Subasta Rápida 36, lot 3066, 25 October 2016.

Obverse 3 (stephaned), Reverse D

Jean Elsen & ses Fils, Auction 128, lot 217, 12 March 2016.

Some years ago, I acquired a specimen of the medium bronze. Sadly, I no longer have the provenance information about the coin because it was lost in a computer crash in 2006. I illustrate the coin, below.

Faustina II, 147-175 CE.
Roman Æ as, 8.68 g, 25.9 mm.
Rome, December 147 – early 148 CE.
Obv: FAVSTINAE AVG PII AVG FIL, draped bust, right (Beckmann Type 1 hairstyle).
Rev: IVNONI LVCINAE S C, Juno, veiled, standing left, holding patera and scepter.
Refs: RIC 1400A; BMCRE 2153-54; Cohen --; Strack 1299; RCV 4728.

A comprehensive database search and review of the literature yields ten known specimens of the medium bronze denomination, all with a bare-headed bust. All told, I have identified five obverse dies and five reverse dies used in its production. I do not have photos for two of them, the specimens in the Museo Nazionale Romano and the Staatliches Münzkabinett in Stuttgart cited by Strack. I catalog the various dies and illustrate the known specimens, below.

Medium Bronze Dies

Obverse 1, Reverse A

The specimen in my collection, provenance information lost.

Obverse 1, Reverse B

Davisson's E-Auction 23, lot 49, 15 November 2017.

Obverse 2, Reverse C

Bertolami Fine Arts, E-Auction 41, lot 489, 30 April 2017.

British Museum collection, BMCRE 2153.

Obverse 3, Reverse D

British Museum collection, BMCRE 2154.

UBS Gold & Numismatics, Auction 78, lot 1692, 9 September 2018.

Obverse 4, Reverse E

CGB.FR, brm 262468, 2015.

Obverse 5, Reverse E

Lodge Antiquities, lot 151999548958, 26 October 2016.

Implications for Dating

This reverse type appears to have been the product of a very limited production run, with only four sestertius reverse dies and five medium bronze reverse dies known. Beckmann identified four aureus reverse dies of the type, paired with only two obverse dies.[3] The type commemorates the birth of Domitia Faustina on 30 November 147 CE, and I propose that production of the IVNONI LVCINAE reverse type began within days of Domitia's birth but ceased within a few weeks at most, as indicated by the paucity of known reverse dies in both the bronze and gold denominations. I believe I am on firm ground in assigning a date of December 147 to the type.

As in the case of the aurei, the sestertius of the IVNONI LVCINAE type was issued contemporaneously with the LAETITIAE PVBLICAE type, as demonstrated by this sestertius struck with obverse die 1. The Laetitia reverse type often indicates a coin struck to commemorate a birth in the imperial family.

Sestertius of the LAETITIAE PVBLICAE type struck with the same obverse die (obverse die 1) as several specimens of the IVNONI REGINAE type. Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna. Strack, pl. XX, 1300.

Similarly, the medium bronze of the IVNONI LVCINAE type was issued contemporaneously with the VENERI GENETRICI type, as demonstrated by this medium bronze struck with obverse die 3 in my collection. The Venus Genetrix reverse type, like Laetitia, often indicates a coin struck to commemorate a birth in the imperial family.[4]

Medium bronze of the VENERI GENETRICI type in the author's collection struck with the same obverse die (obverse die 3) as two specimens of the IVNONI REGINAE type.

As always, please post comments, coins, or anything you feel is relevant!

~~~

Notes:

1. Beckmann, Martin, Faustina the Younger: Coinage, Portraits, and Public Image, A.N.S. Numismatic Studies 43, American Numismatic Society, New York, 2021, p. 24 ff.

2. According to Curtis Clay, the Vienna specimen has a stephaned bust, not a bare headed one, as erroneously reported by Strack. Clay, Curtis L. "Some Rare Antonine Sestertii with Ordinary Types." Forvm's Classical Numismatics Discussion Board, Forvm Ancient Coins, 30 Dec. 2006, www.forumancientcoins.com/board/index.php?topic=34046.msg217255#msg217255.

3. Beckman, op cit., pp. 128-29.

4. See the extensive discussion in Beckmann, op. cit., pp. 28-29, as to the relationship between Venus Genetrix and the birth of Faustina's child.

Edited October 18, 2024 by Roman Collector
I have OCD

[JAZ Numismatics]

Good stuff as always! I find die studies fun and easy when you're only dealing with a handful of varieties. Once you get into, say, 20 reverses and/or obverses, it gets tedious as hell - and I'm not convinced of the value of such studies unless linkages can be found that add specificity to the dating of a series.