(100) Antoninus Pius - AV aureus, A.D. 146-161, 7.30 g. (inv. 91.182).
Obverse: Draped bust of Faustina the Younger l.; FAVSTINA AVG(VSTA) PII AVG(VSTI) FIL(IA): Faustina Augusta, daughter of Pius Augustus.
Reverse: Dove r.; CONCORDIA: Concordia.
Provenance: Münzen und Medaillen, 1984.
Bibliography: H. Mattingly and E.A. Sydenham, The Roman Imperial Coinage III: Antoninus Pius to Commodus (London 1930) 503.


Faustina the Younger, daughter of Antoninus Pius and Faustina the Elder and wife of Marcus Aurelius, was a refined and elegant woman doted upon by her father and her husband. Both men honored her on their coins. It is assumed that the coins whose legends identify her as the daughter of Antoninus were issued by him and that those that do not use his name were issued by Marcus Aurelius.

Many marble portraits of Faustina survive, and the portrait on the obverse of this coin issued by Antoninus has the elaborate hairstyle of her youthful portraits, parted in the center, waved around the face, and braided into a bun at the back. Concordia, the concept of peace and harmony, is represented by a dove on the reverse.

K.L.M.


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