I am not certain about my
attribution of this
sestertius. I have spent quite some time going through
RIC and
BMC (and can't wait until the new Pius
RIC volume
comes out).
The
obverse is
ANTONINVS AVG PIVS - PP TR P
COS IIII, Laureate
head right.
I am not entirely certain from the coin whether it is
COS III or
COS IIII but based on the faint marks
COS IIII seems more likely and I can't find anything under
COS III that matches.
The
reverse has a female figure standing left, with right
arm raised and holding
cornucopia (with tip turned outwards) in left
arm. None of the
legend is visible other than the S-C in the
field. (The odd rectangular marks on the
reverse are due to the fact that it
had a modern
price sticker - yikes! - on it when I bought it at a European coin
fair around eight years ago. The sticker residue clearly mucked it up a
bit. I have brushed it with DW,
soapy DW and a silver-bristle brush but have not done anything stronger.)
Anyway, based on the position of the female's arms, and the
obverse legend options, it appears to me to be
LIBERALITAS AVG (RIC-776, BMC-1695). Other left-facing female
personifications from this period have their arms in different positions - usually lower. However, I can't find any indication of the reversed (i.e. lower tip outwards)
cornucopia on this or other issues with left facing female
personifications around this time.
Any confirmation or other
identification suggestions would be appreciated.
SC