Salonina — Antoninianus, VENVS AVG, Siscia

Cornelia Salonina was Gallienus's wife and Augusta beside him for the whole of his reign. This was struck in her name in 267, under his authority, at Siscia in Pannonia - a mint on the Save that existed to pay the Danube armies. Gallienus was murdered outside Milan the following year, and the coinage in her name ends with him.

The reverse is VENVS AVG, Venus Augusta. The type gives her a helmet in her right hand and a spear in her left with a shield at her feet: the attributes of Venus Victrix, the goddess in her martial aspect, which is why she turns up on the coinage of a mint supplying an army rather than in any softer role. The standing figure holds well on this example, the legend softened by circulation.

The obverse is the better side, SALONINA AVG clear around the draped bust on its crescent - a readable portrait of an empress, on a coin struck the year before the dynasty ended.

Attribution: RIC V Salonina (2) 86Mint: SisciaWeight: 3.79 gDiameter: 22 mmCatalogued in the NumisLens cabinet — NL-FP3WB-6DVP4

Combined shipping is available — buy more than one coin and pay a single shipping charge.Attribution is believed to be correct, but ancient coin attributions can vary and the catalogue reference may be subject to revision.