Last addition of the year, a decent drachm of Faustina.

[Michael Stolt]

When I acquired my first drachm, one of Lucilla, minted at Edessa, on January 13th, I would probably not have believed anyone if they had told me I would end the year with a total of twelve, taking into consideration that this is one of the most difficult series one can collect, within Roman provincial coinage. But here we are, it has been a fantastic year, with more additions than I could dream of, and what better way to end the year, than with one final acquisition.

The coin wont win any beauty contests, but it is extremely rare, RPC only lists five known specimens, three of those being in museum collections, also, one listed from a private collection, that looks like either an imitative or a modern forgery, I am leaning towards the latter, but the photos are of low resolution, so, difficult to confirm.

Faustina Junior. AR Drachm (17mm, 3.17 g, 12h). Carrhae, Mesopotamia ca AD 165-169. ΦΑYϹΤΙΝΑ ϹЄΒΑϹΤΗ; draped bust of Faustina, right, wearing stephane / ΥΠΕΡ ΝΙΚΗϹ ΡΩΜΑΙΩΝ; Clementia standing, left, holding patera and long ornamented sceptre. RPC IV.3, 6499 (temporary)

So, with this new addition, this is how the full collection looks after roughly one year (click for full resolution), not too bad, considering the overall rarity 😊

[panzerman]

Congratulations! Good way to end year!