Hadrian from Alexandria

171, Lot: 36. Estimate $100. Sold for $120. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

EGYPT, Alexandria. Hadrian. AD 117-138. Æ Drachm (33mm, 16.94 g). Dated RY 2 (AD 117/8). Laureate head right, drapery at shoulder / Emperor, holding sceptre and branch, in quadriga drawn by four elephants; date above. Köln 756; Milne 864; Emmett 961. Fine, smooth brown patina.

RY 2 is the first issue of coins of Hadrian from Alexandria. The types, like the elephant quadriga, generally copy types from the latter years of Trajan, who was the first emperor to issue significant quantities of the large bronze drachms.