TYPE Roman Empire, Julia Soaemias, mother of Elagabalus (218-22 AD), silver denarius DESCRIPTION . Obv: Draped bust of Julia to right; Latin legend: IVLIA SOAEMIAS AVG Rev: Venus standing w/ scepter and apple, star in field, legend VENUS CAELESTIS REFERENCE: SR 2170 GRADING: VF / F+, grainy gray toning, scarce ORDER INFO: R1443, $88 The coinage of Julia Soaemias is rather scarce, and was issued only sporadically during the short reign of her son Elagabalus. A devoted worshipper of the Eastern deity Baal like her son, they were both in the shadow of the powerful matriarch - Soaemias' mother Julia Maesa. On the reverse here, Venus is shown in one of her less obvious incarnations here, "caelestis" (i.e. "celestial" - of the skies), underscored by the star in the right field - a device which appears seldom and with a purpose on Roman coinage of this era, as oppposed to the common later use as a mint control mark.