Galerius Antoninus, Son of Pius & Faustina

288, Lot: 340. Estimate $100. Sold for $380. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

CYPRUS, Uncertain. Diva Faustina Senior, with Galerius Antoninus. Died AD 140/1 and before AD 138. Æ (27mm, 7.05 g, 12h). Struck circa AD 147. Draped bust of Diva Faustina Senior right / Bareheaded and draped bust of Galerius Antoninus right. Overbeck, Galerius 6 (same dies?); Vagi 1517. Near Fine, dark green patina, rough surfaces. Rare.

From the R. D. Frederick Collection.

This issue raises three important questions. The first regards where it was minted. While the general consensus assigns it to a mint in Cyprus, this attribution is tenuous, and Crete, the northern Balkans, and Rome itself have been suggested as equally plausible alternatives. The second question regards its strike date. If the obverse legend for this coin follows the pattern set at Rome, then this coin had to be struck after 147 when the DIVA FAVSTINA obverse legend was instituted. The third question then regards the purpose for which this coin was struck. Galerius Antoninus was the natural son of Antoninus Pius and Faustina Senior. When he had died before his father had been made Caesar, Hadrian compelled Antoninus Pius, now without any natural son, to adopt Lucius Verus, the son of Hadrian's previous Caesar, and Marcus Aurelius as his own sons and heirs. In 147 Faustina Junior, Antoninus Pius' only surviving child was created Augusta upon her marriage to Marcus Aurelius. In the flurry of issues struck to commemorate this event and the formation of a new dynasty, it is quite possible that this issue was struck to commemorate the young boy's premature death and include him in an as yet uncertain way into the new imperial scheme.