VRBS ROMA

Laureate with rosette-diadem, draped and cuirassed bust of Nepotian to the right.

Roma seated left on a shield. Holding victory with the right hand and an inverted spear with the left hand. Victory crowning her and being placed on a globe.

Photo of a coin sold the 07/10/2009 par Numismatica Ars classica, Auction 52, lot 625, link to the sale: https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=673479, link to their website: https://www.arsclassicacoins.com/.

I worked on a classification of crowns. I noticed variations that were not listed in any work to my knowledge. Only the RIC had constituted a small incomplete classification. It is difficult to distinguish the small elements which are often worn and poorly represented. The bust: laureate with pearl-diadem is quite problematic: we see small dots in the middle of the laurels, berries? I don't think so, they never seem to have been portrayed. The presence of the jewel at the top of the forehead is for me proof that the diadem is there. Even if a coin shows no dot in the middle of the laurels: https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=2836176,  i see no evidence of the representation of berries. We can also think that the rather oval “laurels” that we see for example with the diadem of rosettes, could be stones. The problem is in the quality of representation. However, it seems more logical to think of laurels. This ''Laureate with Rosette diadem'' bust is already listed and I don't think there is any point in questioning it. However, the idea of pearls is not totally ruled out. Here are the busts that I have listed for the whole coinage:

• Bare head, draped and cuirassed.
• Laureate with pearl-diadem, draped and cuirassed.
• Laureate with rosette-diadem, draped and cuirassed.
• Pearl-diademed, draped and cuirassed.