Heritage World Coin Auctions
CICF Signature Sale 3032 10-12 April 2014
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Diva Faustina Senior, wife of Antoninus Pius (died AD 141). AV aureus (20mm, 7.29 gm, 6h). Rome, after AD 141. DIVA FAVSTINA, draped bust right / AVGV-STA, Ceres standing facing holding lighted torch in right hand and cradling scepter in left. RIC 356a (Antoninus). BMCRE 395-397 (Antoninus). Cohen 95. Calicó 1763. A stunning coin, sharply struck and fully lustrous. NGC (photo-certificate) MS★ 5/5 - 5/5. From The Andre Constantine Dimitriadis Collection. Ex Stack's (New York, 10 November 1992), lot 17. Annia Galeria Faustina was born into an aristocratic Roman senatorial family of Spanish descent. Her maternal uncle was the Emperor Hadrian. In about AD 115, she married Titus Fulvius Antoninus, a respected Senator, and through her connections he became a close advisor to Hadrian. Antoninus eventually succeeded to the throne in AD 138 and Faustina was acclaimed as Augusta, or Empress. Antoninus honored her extensively on the coinage and her vivacity, fashion sense and compassion for the poor made her very popular. Her distinctive hairstyle, with a plait wrapped in a tight coil atop her head, was copied by women throughout the Empire. The couple had four children, two sons and two daughters; both male children died in infancy, but the daughters lived to adulthood and one, Faustina Junior, married Marcus Aurelius and became Augusta herself. Only two years into Antoninus' reign, 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 magnificent aureus falls into the posthumous series.
Estimate: 9000-11000 USD
Diva Faustina Senior, wife of Antoninus Pius (died AD 141). AV aureus (20mm, 7.29 gm, 6h). Rome, after AD 141. DIVA FAVSTINA, draped bust right / AVGV-STA, Ceres standing facing holding lighted torch in right hand and cradling scepter in left. RIC 356a (Antoninus). BMCRE 395-397 (Antoninus). Cohen 95. Calicó 1763. A stunning coin, sharply struck and fully lustrous. NGC (photo-certificate) MS★ 5/5 - 5/5. From The Andre Constantine Dimitriadis Collection. Ex Stack's (New York, 10 November 1992), lot 17. Annia Galeria Faustina was born into an aristocratic Roman senatorial family of Spanish descent. Her maternal uncle was the Emperor Hadrian. In about AD 115, she married Titus Fulvius Antoninus, a respected Senator, and through her connections he became a close advisor to Hadrian. Antoninus eventually succeeded to the throne in AD 138 and Faustina was acclaimed as Augusta, or Empress. Antoninus honored her extensively on the coinage and her vivacity, fashion sense and compassion for the poor made her very popular. Her distinctive hairstyle, with a plait wrapped in a tight coil atop her head, was copied by women throughout the Empire. The couple had four children, two sons and two daughters; both male children died in infancy, but the daughters lived to adulthood and one, Faustina Junior, married Marcus Aurelius and became Augusta herself. Only two years into Antoninus' reign, 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 magnificent aureus falls into the posthumous series.
Estimate: 9000-11000 USD