Faustina I (AD 138-141) Denarius

Faustina I (AD 138-141)

Denarius, Rome (138-9) (3.43 g, 19 mm)

Rarer lifetime issue of Faustina the Elder who died prematurely ~140/141.

Faustina was the wife of Antoninus Pius and their marriage was famously one of the most stable and affectionate in Roman history. Faustina died just three years into her husband's reign 23-year long reign. Antoninus was devastated, deified her immediately, established a charity for orphaned girls in her name (Puellae Faustinianae), and continued to strike coins in her memory for the next twenty years.