Superb Hadrian Drachm Commemorating His Visit to Alexandria – RPC Plate Coin

5672077.

EGYPT, Alexandria. Hadrian. AD 117-138. Æ Drachm (35mm, 24.62 g, 12h). Dated RY 15 (AD 130/1). AVT KAI TPAI A∆PIA CЄB, laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust right / Hadrian standing left, holding scepter in right hand, greeted by Alexandria, clad in elephant’s skin headdress, chiton, and peplos, holding two grain ears in left hand and kissing emperor’s extended right hand; L IE (date) across lower field. Köln 1034; Dattari (Savio) 1610 & 7544-5; K&G 32.509; RPC III 5777.47 (this coin); Emmett 964.15; Staffieri, Alexandria In Nummis 65 (this coin). Lovely reddish brown patina with touches of green in the devices. Superb EF. Extraordinary quality with only a whisper of wear. Certainly one of the finest known examples.

Ex Numismatik Naumann 112 (2 January 2022), lot 451; Giovanni Maria Staffieri Collection (Triton XXI, 9 January 2018), lot 67, purchased from Athos Moretti, Bellinzona, February 1987; Athos Moretti Collection (Bellinzona); Numismatica Aretusa SA (Lugano–Franco Chiesa).

This drachm, a two-year type (regnal years 12 and 15), is part of an extensive series of billon and bronze issues that commemorate Hadrian’s triumphant tour of Egypt in AD 130. The trip was marred by the tragic and mysterious death of Hadrian’s young companion, Antinoüs, on their boat trip up the Nile.