Sale: CNG 72, Lot: 1474. Estimate $15000.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 14 June 2006.  Sold For $18000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Hadrian. AD 117-138. AV Aureus (7.22 g, 12h). Struck AD 134-138. Bare-headed and draped bust left / AFRICA, Africa, wearing elephant-skin headdress, reclining left, placing right hand on neck of lion standing left, and resting left arm on basket of fruits, behind which are two grain-ears. RIC II 298; Calicó 1194. Near EF, light cleaning marks. Rare.

Between the years 119 and 136 AD, the emperor Hadrian travelled throughout the Roman Empire, visiting various provinces to take stock of his inheritance and calm the disquiet which had arisen in the later years of Trajan's reign. His travels can be divided into two major episodes. It was during his second tour that Hadrian visited the province of Africa, circa AD 128-129. Africa was a relatively peaceful province with little military activity. Like Egypt, it had great wealth based on its exports of grain and other foodstuffs, and was also a major source of wild animals used in entertainment throughout the empire. As with many of Hadrian's destinations, we have almost no information about his activities there, other than that it was an opportunity for him to become intimately familiar with this province and its population.