Ancient Roman Silver Coin of Empress Salonina (Wife of Emperor Gallienus)

Own a Silver Coin from the Empress Who Lost Her Father-in-Law to Persia, Two Sons to Revolt, and Her Husband to Assassination

A real silver-washed billon antoninianus of Salonina — wife of Gallienus, Augusta during the height of the Third Century Crisis, and a woman whose life was defined by the relentless tragedies of Rome's most catastrophic era. NGC certified.

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👑 Wife of Gallienus, Augusta through fifteen years of the Third Century Crisis — her imperial prominence preserved on coinage while everything around her fell apart
🏛 Reverse depicts Venus, Juno, Fecunditas, or Pudicitia — beauty, fertility, modesty, and virtue projected by an empress whose personal losses were among the most devastating of the era
🤲 Struck AD 253–268 — silver-washed billon from Rome's most economically strained era, from an empress tradition holds was executed after her husband's assassination. NGC certified.

Own This Piece of History

Why This Coin Matters

Salonina's life as empress reads as a catalogue of the Crisis of the Third Century's worst possibilities. She married Gallienus before he became emperor and watched him govern through fifteen years of compounding catastrophe. Her father-in-law Valerian I was captured by the Persian king Shapur I in AD 260 — the only Roman emperor ever taken prisoner by a foreign enemy — and died in Persian captivity, never returning to Rome. The humiliation reverberated across the empire.

Her sons fared no better. Valerian II — elevated as Caesar and stationed on the Rhine frontier — died in AD 258, likely assassinated, possibly by the general Postumus who shortly afterward broke away the western provinces as the independent Gallic Empire. Saloninus, her second son, was proclaimed Augustus by loyalists in Cologne in AD 260 as a direct counter to Postumus — and was killed within weeks when Postumus's forces captured the city. Two sons, two violent deaths, within the same decade.

She bore all of this as Augusta — her portrait circulating on coins across whatever remained of the empire, the divine virtues of her reverses projecting the stability that reality consistently denied. When Gallienus was assassinated in AD 268 by his own officers during the siege of Milan, later tradition holds that Salonina was executed in the aftermath — the standard fate of imperial family members when new regimes needed to eliminate potential rallying points for resistance. Her wavy portrait on this silver-washed billon antoninianus is one of the few surviving images of a woman who witnessed more imperial tragedy than almost any empress in Roman history. Certified by NGC.

Perfect for:

• Collectors of Crisis of the Third Century, imperial women, and Roman silver-washed billon antoniniani
• History lovers drawn to Salonina, Gallienus, and the personal tragedies of Rome's most embattled dynasty
• Roman empress portrait, stephane diadem type, and NGC certified Crisis-era silver enthusiasts
• Anyone seeking a historically poignant piece from one of Rome's most tragedy-defined imperial women

What You'll Receive

• One authentic silver-washed billon antoninianus of Salonina
• Denomination: Antoninianus (silver-washed billon — debased currency of the era)
• NGC certified for authenticity and preservation
• Struck AD 253–268 — similar to examples shown (each coin is unique)

Buy with Confidence

• Guaranteed authentic ancient coin
• Carefully sourced and verified
• 30-day return policy
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