VICTORIA AVGGG
ERI - NA AVG Bust of Aelia Verina to the right, draped, wearing a diadem of pearls, a necklace of pearls and long earrings. Above, the hand of God crowning her.
An angel standing left, holding a long latin cross decorated with jewels. Behind her on the right, a star.
Marks
Photo of a coin sold the 24/11/2006 by Numismatica Ars Classica, Auction 34, lot 118, link to the sale: https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=338130, link to their website: http://www.arsclassicacoins.com/.
This coin is the copy illustrated in the RIC X, plate 22, n °606 (first photo). The obverse legend classified by the RIC X is ve1, therefore AEL VERI - NA AVG... However, he illustrates this number with two coins, one of which has the legend AEL ERI - NA AVG (this coin classified here) and a second with a legend that I see with fault (low photo quality, to be confirmed) AEL VERI - NA A A/G. Numismatica Ars Classica classified the coin as RIC X 607, rightly so because the legend is the ve3: AEL ERI - NA AVG, without realizing that it was the example illustrated in 606. This shows that the RIC made errors in its classification of legends and that certain coins not illustrated are to be confirmed.
For the classification of the legends and the form of the letters, click here: https://www.all-your-coins.com/en/emperors/romaines-imperiales/aelia-verina.
As I said in AYC # 1, the RIC listed legends with variants V, Y etc ... without knowing which copies were used for the analysis of letters. Legends noted were they actually with V letters? Still, the officina letter has a Y shape, let's be clear: that is to say a V with a wide base. As on this copy where we can clearly see that the officina letter A has the same shape as the Y, but upside down. Anyway, the letters A on all types have the same shape as the Y's (which I describe as V with a wide base).
On the reverse I noted ''Angel'' in the description. We can also say that this is Victoria but the image of the victory at that time had indeed become that of an angel symbolizing the Christian victory. I note that this character is probably also a representation of the Empress in the guise of the angel. Indeed, the character often wears the same double pearl diadem and the clothes are decorated like those of Aelia Verina. I have noticed many times that on the coinage of various Empresses the character on the reverse is depicted as the Empress.