171, Lot: 42. Estimate $100. Sold for $203. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

EGYPT, Alexandria. Hadrian. AD 117-138. Æ Drachm (33mm, 27.16 g). Dated RY 12 (AD 127/8). Laureate and draped bust right, drapery held by fibula / Nilus reclining left, holding cornucopiae with small Genius, leaning against a crocodile, papyrus plant behind; IV above, date below. Köln 990; Milne 1265; Emmett 1014. VF, rough green patina, slightly smoothed.

The numeral 16 represents 16 cubits on the Nilometer, the gauge that measured the annual flood crest of the Nile, that figure being the ideal point for the agriculture of the Nile valley. Lower than 16 cubits brought the danger of drought conditions, much higher and there was the possibility of damaging floods. The surviving Nilometers are now useless, after the construction of the Aswan dam in the 1960’s ended further Nile floods.