AEGYPTOS
Calicó Plate Coin

Triton XX, Lot: 734. Estimate $75000. Sold for $128500. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Hadrian. AD 117-138. AV Aureus (19mm, 7.46 g, 6h). Rome mint. Struck AD 134-138. HADRIANVS AVG COS III P P, bareheaded and draped bust right / AEGYPTOS, Egypt reclining left, holding sistrum in right hand, leaning left elbow on basket around which is coiled a serpent; at feet, ibis standing right. RIC II 296c; Calicó 1190a (this coin illustrated); BMCRE 793 var. (ibis on column, no serpent); Biaggi –. EF, lustrous. Rare.

From the Continental Collection. Ex Rauch 58 (28 October 1996), lot 288; Numismatic Fine Arts XVIII (31 March 1987), lot 474; Schewizerische Kreditanstalt 4 (3 December 1985), lot 498.

This coin is part of interesting series struck late in Hadrian’s reign to commemorate his travels throughout the provinces of the empire. The emperor’s journey to Egypt was particularly fateful; while Hadrian was sailing along the Nile in October AD 130, his young lover, Antinous, fell into the river and drowned.