Heritage World Coin Auctions
NYINC Signature Sale 3051 8-9 January 2017
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Diva Faustina Senior (died and deified, AD 140/1). AV aureus (19mm, 6.03 gm, 6h). NGC Choice XF 5/5 - 3/5, edge filing. Rome, AD 140/1. DIVA FAVSTINA, draped bust of Faustina right, hair coiled atop head / AETERNITAS, Faustina seated left beneath awning in a car drawn left by two elephants, each with mahout. RIC (Pius) 352. Cohen 54. Calicó 1753. Very rare! With mellow orange toning and an evocative reverse.
Only two years into the reign of Antoninus Pius, his popular wife Annia Galeria Faustina died of an unknown illness. The grief-stricken Antoninus secured her deification and issued an immense coinage in her name, the largest for any Roman woman to that point. This intriguing aureus falls into the posthumous series, depicting a scene from a procession marking her deification. An over-life size effigy of Faustina sits in a covered cart pulled by two elephants. Due to their long life spans, elephants were symbols of the eternal.
Estimate: 6000-8000 USD
Diva Faustina Senior (died and deified, AD 140/1). AV aureus (19mm, 6.03 gm, 6h). NGC Choice XF 5/5 - 3/5, edge filing. Rome, AD 140/1. DIVA FAVSTINA, draped bust of Faustina right, hair coiled atop head / AETERNITAS, Faustina seated left beneath awning in a car drawn left by two elephants, each with mahout. RIC (Pius) 352. Cohen 54. Calicó 1753. Very rare! With mellow orange toning and an evocative reverse.
Only two years into the reign of Antoninus Pius, his popular wife Annia Galeria Faustina died of an unknown illness. The grief-stricken Antoninus secured her deification and issued an immense coinage in her name, the largest for any Roman woman to that point. This intriguing aureus falls into the posthumous series, depicting a scene from a procession marking her deification. An over-life size effigy of Faustina sits in a covered cart pulled by two elephants. Due to their long life spans, elephants were symbols of the eternal.
Estimate: 6000-8000 USD