Reverse Illustrated in Dattari

Triton XXI, Lot: 70. Estimate $2000. Sold for $2250. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

EGYPT, Alexandria. Hadrian. AD 117-138. Æ Drachm (35mm, 27.46 g, 12h). Dated RY 16 (AD 131/132). AVT KAI TPAI A∆PIA CЄB, laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust right / Nilus seated left on pile of rocks, holding reed with his extended right hand and cornucopia with his left; hippopotamus below; L Iς (date) in left field. Köln 1052-4; Dattari (Savio) 1796 (this coin – reverse illustrated on pl. XIX of 1901 catalogue); K&G 32.518; RPC III 5792/26 (this coin); Emmett 1017.16; Staffieri, Alexandria In Nummis 67 (this coin). Near EF, wonderful dark brown patina with traces of green. A superb portrait of Hadrian, with a wonderful depiction of Nilus on the reverse, which Dattari chose to illustrate the type in the 1901 catalogue of his collection.

From the Giovanni Maria Staffieri Collection, purchased from Dr. Piero Beretta, Milan, June 1975. Ex Dr. Piero Beretta Collection (Milan); Giovanni Dattari Collection, no. 1796.

A common type overall, but with the substitution of a hippotamus for the crocodile on the reverse below Nilus, this variety is a bit more difficult to find, especially in a high grade of preservation such as this specimen from the Dattari collection.