1.
VESTA S C reverse, Vesta standing left, veiled, holding
patera and
transverse scepter, only one die known, coupled with early
sestertius obv. dies of both
Valerian I and
Gallienus.
Cohen 214 cites this
rev. for Valerian from the
Paris specimen, of which he also furnishes a Dardel drawing; for
Gallienus Cohen 1028 knew no actual specimen of such a
sestertius, but only a description of one in Banduri (1718).
Göbl 54 cites and illustrates for Valerian the same
Paris coin, but for
Gallienus an example that was described and photographed in Münzhandlung
Basel 1, 1934, lot 2148. These were the only examples known to Göbl, who pointed out that they both shared the same
rev. die (p. 79).
Recently another specimen of the
Gallienus coin, from the same dies as
Basel 1, 2148, turned up in
Roma Numismatics E31, 26 Nov. 2016, lot 533; see the firm's illustration below.
Roma cited for comparison Bertolami
Fine Arts 9, 2014, lot 766; perhaps this is a third example of the same
Gallienus sestertius, but I have been unable to locate a description or picture of it, in either
CoinArchives Pro or the Bertolami website.
Now this VESTA
rev. type was also used for
Salonina, but at a considerably later stage of the reign, to judge from the
style and debasement of the relevant
antoniniani (Göbl 239). On the other hand the same VESTA
type was the earlier of the two successive
types used on
antoniniani of
Cornelia Supera, only a couple of months before the accession of Valerian and
Gallienus; see picture below from
CoinArchives Pro. It seems very likely that the
VESTA S C die used on
sestertii of Valerian and
Gallienus in 253-4 was originally
engraved for
Supera. It would be neat if a VESTA
sestertius of
Supera eventually turns up, perhaps struck from the same
reverse die as the
sestertii of
Valerianus and
Gallienus! On the other hand, it is possible that the VESTA
sestertius die or dies, though originally cut for
Supera, were never used for her. No Rome-mint bronze coins whatever have so far been attested for
Cornelia Supera, though those of her husband
Aemilian, showing many
types from both of
his main issues, are all
rare but nevertheless survive in at least several hundred specimens.