(99) Antoninus Pius - AR denarius, after A.D. 141, 3.58 g. (inv.
91.174).
Obverse: Draped and diademed bust of Faustina the Elder r.; DIVA AVG(VSTA)
FAVSTINA: Divine Faustina Augusta.
Reverse: Antoninus seated l. on platform with woman beside him on his r.;
both lean forward to receive girl held forward by man standing r.; in front
of platform, a man rushes forward, extending another girl; PVELLAE FAVSTINIANAE:
the girls of Faustina.
Provenance: Ex Morgan collection; Coin Galleries, 1959.
Bibliography: H. Mattingly and E.A. Sydenham, The Roman Imperial Coinage
III: Antoninus Pius to Commodus (London 1930) 399a.
The most interesting feature of this coin is its reverse, which refers to
the Puellae Faustinianae or the Girls of Faustina, the charity that
Antoninus Pius established in memory of his wife, Faustina the Elder, after
her death in A.D. 141. The charity was to provide for the poor girls of
the city. The figures on the coin would be Antoninus and with him probably
Faustina receiving the little girls who are to be the recipients of their
charity.
The portrait on the obverse depicts Faustina with her hair braided and piled
on top of her head, as in no. 98, but her face on this coin appears thinner
and more youthful. Here she also wears a diadem.
K.L.M.
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Lawrence University
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