The Roman Empire
Antoninus Pius augustus, 138 – 161
Aureus 149, AV 7.24 g. ANTONINVS AVG – PIVS P P TRP XII Laureate head r. Rev. TEMPORVM FELICITAS Crossed cornucopiae surmounted by busts of little boy and girl; below, COS IIII. C 811. BMC 678. RIC 185a. Calicó 1631 (this obverse die). Kent-Himer pl. 93, 325 (this obverse die).
Very rare. Good extremely fine Ex Leu 87, 2003, Perfectionist, 28 and NAC 51, 2009, 292 sales.
When Antonininus Pius was selected by Hadrian as his successor in 138 it was due to his maturity, experience and fine personal qualities. The author of Pius’ biography in the Historia Augusta paints the picture of a model citizen and idyllic leader, who was universally praised for his dutifulness, clemency, intelligence and purity. These were just the qualities Hadrian sought in someone who would act as steward not only for the nation, but also for Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus, Hadrian’s heirs of choice who at the time of Hadrian’s demise were too young to assume the burdens of office.
With this ‘dynastic’ arrangement in place, the birth of twins – a boy and a girl – in 149 to the elder of the heirs, Marcus Aurelius, and his wife Faustina Junior, was a major event. Reconstructing the history of the dozen or more children born to Faustina – more than half of whom died during infancy or childhood – is a difficult task. With this well-known coin type of Pius’ twelfth tribunician, however, the twins usually are identified as Aurelius Antoninus and the future empress Lucilla. Aurelius Antoninus either was the firstborn son of the imperial couple or the second, for it is possible that T. Aelius Aurelius had been born first, only to die in infancy.
The birth of Aurelius Antoninus and Lucilla is celebrated on this crossed-cornucopias type, a design familiar on ancient coinage. The design was carefully considered: the grape clusters, grain ears and busts of the children that issue forth from the cornucopias celebrate the fecundity of the imperial line. Thus, when news arrived of the boy’s death within his first year it was a terrible blow to the imperial family and to a nation that had invested so much hope in a boy who one day might have become emperor.