Maison Palombo
Auction 19 12 Dec 2020
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Faustine II - Aureus - Rome (161-176)
Exemplaire d'une qualité remarquable.
Exemplaire de la vente Palombo 17 du 20 octobre 2018, N°74.
7.26g - Cal. 2073b
Superbe à FDC - NGC CHOICE AU (5/5 4/5)
Deserving her title of Mater Castrorum - 'Mother of the Camp', Faustina had accompanied her husband (to whom she bore thirteen children) on various military campaigns, including in the North in AD 170-175, and in the East in AD 175: she died in an accident in the Winter of AD 175-176, aged about 35, in Halala (southern Cappadocia). This reverse type, depicting Salus feeding a snake from a patera, seated on a throne and leaning her elbow on its
arm, is rather common on Roman imperial coinage (from Tiberius onwards), but it usually refers to her role as the goddess responsible for the welfare of the people. Here, instead, the legend Saluti Augustae - 'the health of the Empress' - alludes to the desire for a speedy recovery from an illness that had struck Faustina Minor, the wife of Emperor Marcus Aurelius (and daughter of Antoninus Pius, the mother of Commodus): but which illness struck
her and at what date is uncertain.
Exemplaire d'une qualité remarquable.
Exemplaire de la vente Palombo 17 du 20 octobre 2018, N°74.
7.26g - Cal. 2073b
Superbe à FDC - NGC CHOICE AU (5/5 4/5)
Deserving her title of Mater Castrorum - 'Mother of the Camp', Faustina had accompanied her husband (to whom she bore thirteen children) on various military campaigns, including in the North in AD 170-175, and in the East in AD 175: she died in an accident in the Winter of AD 175-176, aged about 35, in Halala (southern Cappadocia). This reverse type, depicting Salus feeding a snake from a patera, seated on a throne and leaning her elbow on its
arm, is rather common on Roman imperial coinage (from Tiberius onwards), but it usually refers to her role as the goddess responsible for the welfare of the people. Here, instead, the legend Saluti Augustae - 'the health of the Empress' - alludes to the desire for a speedy recovery from an illness that had struck Faustina Minor, the wife of Emperor Marcus Aurelius (and daughter of Antoninus Pius, the mother of Commodus): but which illness struck
her and at what date is uncertain.