Triton XXI, Lot: 72. Estimate $5000. Sold for $5000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

EGYPT, Alexandria. Hadrian. AD 117-138. Æ Drachm (35mm, 27.03 g, 12h). Dated RY 16 (AD 131/132). AVT KAI TPAI A∆PIA CЄB, laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust right / Nilus seated right on pile of rocks, holding reed with his right hand and cornucopia with his left; crocodile to left below; before him, Isis-Euthenia standing facing, head left, holding a sistrum in her raised right hand and two grain ears with her left; L Iς (date) in exergue. Köln 1058; Dattari (Savio) 1811 (this coin – reverse illustrated on pl. XX of 1901 catalogue); K&G 32.520; RPC III 5793/9=10 (this coin); Emmett 1020.16 (R4); Staffieri, Alexandria In Nummis 68 (this coin). EF, wonderful dark brown patina with traces of green. A superb portrait of Hadrian, with a wonderful depiction of Nilus and Isis-Euthenia on the reverse, which Dattari chose to illustrate the type in the 1901 catalogue of his collection.

From the Giovanni Maria Staffieri Collection. Ex Dr. Piero Beretta Collection (Milan); Kunst und Münzen AG XXII (2 April 1981), lot 304; Giovanni Dattari Collection, no. 1811.

Giovanni refers to this coin in his book as “a real jewel of the collection.” An one year type, this is an amazing example. The reference in Emmett to a regnal year 10 example refers to the Dattari coin, no. 1810, which is almost certainly year 16, with the date being mostly off of the flan.