That's almost exactly the same type, Bryan. This is a denarius issued in the name of Faustina Senior, wife of emperor Antoninus Pius. The Vesta type is listed in Sear as number 4601, struck "after 147 AD". It's one of the commonest types of denarii of the period; the coins may have been issued into the reign of her son Marcus Aurelius.
Coins struck in the names of wives and family members of the emperors tend not to be as popular with collectors (and therefore not as valuable), possibly because they don't fit easily into the "one from each emperor" collection many are trying to assemble. Sear lists the price for this one at $35 in VF.
There are fakes of this type out there, but all the listed ones on FORVM seem to be all of the
same pattern, with the S in VESTA above the little statue Vesta is holding; the S is to the left of it on yours. Yours looks perfectly genuine to me but it seems to have had some harsh cleaning at one stage (the scratches below Faustina's chin).
Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise, you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. - C. S. Lewis
Posted 09/24/2010 02:27 am
