Antoninus Pius, Rome mint, 142 AD.,
Æ Sestertius (31-33 mm / 25.43 g),
Obv.: ANTONINVS AVG PI - VS P P TR P COS III , laureate head of Antoninus Pius right.
Rev.: CONCOR - DIAE / S C (in ex.), two statues , standing on low daïs, the left holding Concordia, dextrarum iunctio (clasping hands) over lighted altar ; corresponding smaller male and female figures standing before, also clasping hands.
RIC III 601 (scarce) ; BMCRE 1237; Hill 480 ; Cohen 146 .
Curtis Clay:
"I think: it has already been adequately explained by Alföldi and Strack, followed by Mattingly in BMC.
Here is a summary of the argument of Strack, Ant. Pius pp. 96-7:
Dio Cassius relates that one of the honors voted to Faustina II after her death in 176 was that silver statues of herself and Marcus should be set up in the temple of Roma and Venus, and an altar placed before the statues, at which every newly married couple should make offerings.
The coin type of Pius, and an inscription from Ostia, prove that a similar honor must have been accorded to Diva Faustina I.
The Ostian inscription records that, by decree of the city assembly, statues of Antoninus and Diva Faustina I and an altar had been set up in Ostia, at which every bride and groom should make offerings when they married, because of the extraordinary harmony (concordia) that had characterized the emperor's marriage.
The coin type in question proves that Ostia must have been following a precedent set by the Senate in Rome: with the legend CONCORDIAE, the type shows statues of Antoninus and Diva Faustina on bases, clasping right hands, while Antoninus holds a statuette of Concordia. Between and below the statues, on a smaller scale, a pair of newlyweds clasp hands over an altar."
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