The reverse of a silver denarius of Julia Domna showing Venus. It is 18mm across and weighs 2.7 grammes.

Some while ago, I received an email from someone whose daughter was looking for an ancient Roman coin as a gift for her boyfriend's graduation. The criteria for this gift were simple: it should symbolise their relationship and his success, representing love, faithfulness, hope, wealth, and good fortune. It struck me that these would be equally suitable as criteria for a wedding gift.

There isn't any one Roman coin that means all these things, but all of them can be found on one coin or another. For example, the coin on the right shows Venus, the goddess of physical love. It is a denarius of Julia Domna, the wife of the emperor Septimius Severus. This is a much enlarged photo.

The legend on this coin is VENVS VICTR, meaning Venus the Victorious. This is not a bad choice as a wedding coin, if you don't mind being rather unsubtle. She carries an apple, most likely as a love gift. She also carries the palm branch awarded to a victor, hinting that the coin really refers to victory in battle, but that can be ignored if necessary.

The reverse of a silver denarius of Severus Alexander showing Abundantia. It is 19mm across and weighs 2.15 grammes.

That's a good start. But what about other forms of success? Well, for worldly wealth there are coins showing a personification of abundance. Abundantia carries a cornucopia, also known as a horn of plenty, from which she pours a stream of fruits. This was a gift from Jupiter, chief of the Roman gods, and it appears on many Roman coins, held by many different deities and personifications. But Abundantia is the one who suits it best.

Roman coins representing money also exist, but their symbol is a woman carrying a pair of scales, for the fair distribution of wealth. That is not quite what we are looking for here, so a coin showing Abundantia with her cornucopia makes a better wedding gift, symbolising good wishes for a financially successful union.

The reverse of a silver denarius of Severus Alexander showing Spes. It is 20mm across and weighs 3.5 grammes.

Next comes Hope, represented by her Roman personification, Spes. The image comes from young Greek girls, korai, who carried a bird or a flower to symbolise spring. On this coin, Spes is holding out a flower, and holding up her skirt so that it doesn't drag in the dust.

In the story of Pandora, when all the evils of the world had been released from her vase, there remained hope, hidden under the lip. That is a sad story, and luckily, the Spes on Roman coins had a different connotation. Spes was used through most of the Roman empire to symbolise the new hope of a new reign, or sometimes a new child. So a Spes coin makes an excellent symbol to give at a wedding.

The only drawback is that the legends tend to relate to the hope of the people or the state, not the hope of a couple. This coin, for example, says SPES PVBLICA, which means just that, the hope of the people.

The reverse of a silver denarius of Julia Domna showing Fortuna. It is 19mm across and weighs 3.6 grammes.

Next, good luck. The Romans had a goddess Fortuna who (among other things) took care of travellers, and when she appears on coins it is almost always to celebrate the safe return of an emperor from a journey. But there are a few coins, like this one, with the legend FORTVNA FELICI, which might be translated as "happy good fortune." This is clearly an excellent wedding wish.

On this coin, Fortuna is carrying a cornucopia, which we saw earlier being poured from by Abundantia, and an anchor (for a sea journey), which we can quietly ignore. She is holding the hand of a child in front of her, which originally might have represented the empress' elder child, but which for our purposes makes the coin's message specific to a couple who hope to have children. This could be the happy good fortune named by the coin.

The reverse of a silver denarius of Plautilla showing her clasping hands with the emperor Caracalla. It is 18mm across and weighs 3.1 grammes.

Finally, a coin that represents marital concord. This denarius was struck to commemorate the marriage of the emperor Caracalla to his bride Plautilla. It shows them clasping hands, with the legend CONCORDIAE AETERNAE, meaning "eternal harmony." This would be my favourite choice of all these coins and all these wishes.

The marriage that this coin celebrated was, unfortunately, not at all a happy one, and that has inspired some cynical comments about the nature of marriage from some readers of ths page ... but that does not affect the genuine nature of the wish that the coin expresses. After all, not every husband is an all-powerful megalomaniac. (Cynical comments almost write themselves at this point, don't they?)

So, how easy would it be to get hold of one of these coins? Actually, not hard at all. If you are not lucky enough to live near a dealer whose coins you can examine in person, there are many dealers on line, and with a budget of £30 to £50 – perhaps less if you have time to hunt around and be patient – you can get a good quality example of some of these reverses. The Venus at the top of the page would certainly cost more, because this Venus type is very popular; and so would my favourite at the bottom, because all coins of Plautilla are scarce. Examples which are less perfect will cost less. (Prices estimated in July 2008)

The dealer whose site hosts this page has a catalogue here, and failing this, there are many more dealers here. Or, if you are prepared to take the risk, you can get a fair example of some of these for a smaller outlay on an on-line auction site such as eBay. I do not recommend this unless you are knowledgeable about ancient coins.

A final reminder: all these photos are enlarged, some more than others.