Heritage World Coin Auctions
ANA Signature Sale 3056 3 Aug 2017
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Ancients
Faustina Junior, daughter of Antoninus Pius, wife of Marcus Aurelius (Augusta, AD 149-175/6). AV aureus (19mm, 7.04 gm, 5h). NGC Choice AU★ 5/5 - 5/5, Fine Style. Rome, under Antoninus, AD 149-152. FAVSTINAE AVG PII AVG FIL, draped bust of the young Faustina right with hair waved and rolled into double bun coiled at back, wound through with band of pearls and held in place with hair band / V-E-NVS, Venus standing facing, head left, holding apple in right hand and ship's tiller in left, around which a dolphin is entwined. RIC 517c. Calicό 2097. Deeply struck in high relief from dies of exquisite style, with lustrous, unmarked fields producing a pleasing cameo effect.
The younger Faustina is here presented as a princess (a term derived from the Latin princeps, "first man"), having just been named Augusta (Empress) by the Senate as an homage her father, Antoninus Pius. In this role she replaced her mother, Faustina Senior, who had died in AD 141. She was about 20 at the time of her elevation and had been married to Marcus Aurelius Caesar, the heir apparent, for four years. The die engraver, an artist of exceptional talent, has captured her in the full bloom of her youth and beauty, with an elegant hairstyle that would be closely copied 15 centuries later by the ladies of the Napoleonic court. The reverse figure of Venus is also beautifully modeled, with her voluptuous curves quite evident beneath her voluminous stola; the dainty manner in which she holds the apple also shows the engraver's eye for telling detail.
HID02901242017
Estimate: 14000-18000 USD
Faustina Junior, daughter of Antoninus Pius, wife of Marcus Aurelius (Augusta, AD 149-175/6). AV aureus (19mm, 7.04 gm, 5h). NGC Choice AU★ 5/5 - 5/5, Fine Style. Rome, under Antoninus, AD 149-152. FAVSTINAE AVG PII AVG FIL, draped bust of the young Faustina right with hair waved and rolled into double bun coiled at back, wound through with band of pearls and held in place with hair band / V-E-NVS, Venus standing facing, head left, holding apple in right hand and ship's tiller in left, around which a dolphin is entwined. RIC 517c. Calicό 2097. Deeply struck in high relief from dies of exquisite style, with lustrous, unmarked fields producing a pleasing cameo effect.
The younger Faustina is here presented as a princess (a term derived from the Latin princeps, "first man"), having just been named Augusta (Empress) by the Senate as an homage her father, Antoninus Pius. In this role she replaced her mother, Faustina Senior, who had died in AD 141. She was about 20 at the time of her elevation and had been married to Marcus Aurelius Caesar, the heir apparent, for four years. The die engraver, an artist of exceptional talent, has captured her in the full bloom of her youth and beauty, with an elegant hairstyle that would be closely copied 15 centuries later by the ladies of the Napoleonic court. The reverse figure of Venus is also beautifully modeled, with her voluptuous curves quite evident beneath her voluminous stola; the dainty manner in which she holds the apple also shows the engraver's eye for telling detail.
HID02901242017
Estimate: 14000-18000 USD