Extremely Rare Legend Variety – The Only Example in Private Hands

CNG 108, Lot: 613. Estimate $7500. Sold for $11000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Hadrian. AD 117-138. AV Aureus (18mm, 7.21 g, 6h). Rome mint. Struck circa AD 125-128. HADRIANVS AVGVST, laureate bust right, slight drapery / COS, III in exergue, she-wolf left, suckling twins Remus and Romulus. RIC II 193 note = Calicó 1237 = BMCRE p. 282 note * = Cohen 424; Strack 145; Biaggi 598 var. (obv. legend). Good VF, underlying luster, a few light marks. Extremely rare, apparently the fourth known and the only example in private hands.

RIC, Calicó, and BMCRE all reference Cohen 424 (citing a specimen in the Cabinet de France) for this variety, although RIC and Calicó misdescribe the bust type. Strack also notes examples in Vienna and Milan. This type is so rare that Calicó doubted if this variety with the abbreviated form of “Augustus” even existed.