Roma Numismatics Ltd
Auction XXII 7-8 Oct 2021
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Marcus Aurelius, as Caesar, AV Aureus. Rome, AD 148-149. AVRELIVS CAESAR AVG P II F, bare-headed and draped bust to right / CONCORDIA TR POT III COS II, Concordia standing facing, head to left, sheltering with her mantle small draped figures of Marcus Aurelius (on the left) and Faustina Junior who stand facing, their heads turned toward Concordia. RIC III 441 (Pius) var. (COS II in exergue, bust type); BMCRE 680 (Pius) var. (same); Strack 205 (Pius) var. (same); Biaggi -; Calicó 1820a var. (bust type); NAC 77, 154 (same obv. die, CHF 36,000). 7.23g, 20mm, 5h.
Fleur De Coin. Unique and unpublished.
From the Altstetten Collection, kept in the vault of Crédit Suisse Geneva (documentation available upon request) since 26 November 1969.
Beautifully rendered on this reverse of this stunning aureus is a charming scene representing the harmony (concordia) that prevailed between Marcus Aurelius and Faustina Junior, who had been married in AD 145. Struck under Antoninus Pius, the depiction of Concordia gathering and sheltering Aurelius and Faustina near her, a representation of harmony in marriage and hope for a life of happiness, belies nothing of the forethought and planning that was undertaken to arrange the match. Instituted by Hadrian during his final two years of life with his adoption of Pius and the subsequent direction for Pius to adopt Aurelius, the wedding commemorated on this coin was, as seen under Roman law, of a brother marrying his sister and Pius would have had to formally release either the bride or groom from his paternal authority in order for the ceremony to go ahead.
Inauspicious as the legal challenges may have been at the start of their union, Aurelius and Faustina were married for thirty years and Faustina bore thirteen children over this period, heralding a time of stability in the imperial family. As Carlos Noreña posits, "with the decline of independent senatorial authority and concurrent ascent to power of those individuals who had privileged access to the emperor, especially emperors' wives, concordia within the imperial family, above all between emperor and empress, became paramount." (Imperial Ideals in the Roman West: Representation, Circulation, Power, 2011). Following the carefully orchestrated succession organised by Hadrian, propaganda such as this reverse type, which emphasised the harmony and benefits brought to the empire by the Antonine dynasty, were plentiful and became a lasting feature of imperial coinage.
Fleur De Coin. Unique and unpublished.
From the Altstetten Collection, kept in the vault of Crédit Suisse Geneva (documentation available upon request) since 26 November 1969.
Beautifully rendered on this reverse of this stunning aureus is a charming scene representing the harmony (concordia) that prevailed between Marcus Aurelius and Faustina Junior, who had been married in AD 145. Struck under Antoninus Pius, the depiction of Concordia gathering and sheltering Aurelius and Faustina near her, a representation of harmony in marriage and hope for a life of happiness, belies nothing of the forethought and planning that was undertaken to arrange the match. Instituted by Hadrian during his final two years of life with his adoption of Pius and the subsequent direction for Pius to adopt Aurelius, the wedding commemorated on this coin was, as seen under Roman law, of a brother marrying his sister and Pius would have had to formally release either the bride or groom from his paternal authority in order for the ceremony to go ahead.
Inauspicious as the legal challenges may have been at the start of their union, Aurelius and Faustina were married for thirty years and Faustina bore thirteen children over this period, heralding a time of stability in the imperial family. As Carlos Noreña posits, "with the decline of independent senatorial authority and concurrent ascent to power of those individuals who had privileged access to the emperor, especially emperors' wives, concordia within the imperial family, above all between emperor and empress, became paramount." (Imperial Ideals in the Roman West: Representation, Circulation, Power, 2011). Following the carefully orchestrated succession organised by Hadrian, propaganda such as this reverse type, which emphasised the harmony and benefits brought to the empire by the Antonine dynasty, were plentiful and became a lasting feature of imperial coinage.