Antoninianus of Cornelia Salonina 260 - 268

Curator: This intriguing piece, an Antoninianus of Cornelia Salonina, resides here at the Harvard Art Museums. It's a small coin, just over two grams. Editor: There's a certain melancholy to it, isn't there? That green patina whispers of time and buried histories. Curator: Absolutely. Think of the labor involved in minting countless coins like this one. Mass production, Roman style, all to project the image of Salonina, the empress. Editor: Imagine holding something handled by so many, traded for bread or baubles. It's almost dreamlike, a tactile link to a vanished world. Does it matter that the portrait is almost illegible now? Curator: Perhaps not. Its very survival, its worn surface, speaks to something larger than imperial vanity. Consider what this little thing was *made* to do. Editor: I like that idea – utility and beauty, all worn down by time and the hands of so many. Curator: Precisely! A small object carrying so much.