Exquisite Early Bust of Hadrian

Triton XXI, Lot: 56. Estimate $1500. Sold for $1800. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

EGYPT, Alexandria. Hadrian. AD 117-138. BI Tetradrachm (24mm, 13.24 g, 12h). Dated RY 2 (AD 117/118). AVT KAIC TPAIANOC A∆PIANOC, laureate bust right, slight drapery / Herakles Nikephoros standing facing, head left, holding Nike in his extended right hand and club with his left, lion skin draped over his left arm; L B (date) across field. Köln –; Dattari (Savio) 7432 (this coin); K&G –; RPC III 4997/1 (this coin, illustrated on pl. 245); Emmett 856.2 (R5); Staffieri, Alexandria In Nummis 56 (this coin). Good VF, toned. Exquisite early bust of Hadrian. Extremely rare, and one of two known. The other was sold by us in CNG E-Sale 348, lot 602.

From the Giovanni Maria Staffieri Collection. Ex Dr. Meyer-Coloniensis Collection (Münz Zentrum 64, 15 April 1988), lot 231; Bickelmann FPL 29 (1973); Giovanni Dattari Collection, no. 7432.