Hadrian AE Drachm Obverse: AYT KAI TPAI ADRIA CEB, laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right Reverse: Nilus seated left on rocks, holding reed and cornucopia, crocodile under elbow. Minted in Alexandria I picked up my first Alexandrian drachm on my recent irresponsible buying spree (at a good price), and it arrived today. It looks even better in hand than either to seller photos or my photos were able to capture, and I am delighted by how chunky and heavy it is. Unfortunately, I have no idea how to go about dating these. It looks like the year mark is missing due to the chip or flan defect on the reverse, but is anyone more experienced with these able to give a date range for this type? Lastly, I am a little concerned about the coloration of this chip on the side as possible bronze disease, but the coin otherwise appears to be in great condition and very solid. For what it's worth, not much of the material in the crack came out with a skewer. Anyway, I'd also love to see other people's chunky drachms!
I love your new coin @SeptimusT and I do not have one to share. But I had to lighten your image so I could see your coin in all it's glory on my monitor.
Wow, cool coin @SeptimusT ! You always see the AR / BI Tets from Alexandria, but I don't recall AE Drachm from the Roman Empire period. I HAVE an AE Drachm from Alexandria, but it is from the Ptolomy period... Egypt Ptolemy IV 221-205 BC AE 37mm 42g Drachm Zeus-Ammon Eagle Tbolt SV 974
Great coinl I really I want a drachm of Alexandria. I bid on one of Antinous, Hadrian's favorite, but the price escalated over $200 even though the coin was in G/VG condition. Actually, it was still probably a bargain as the really nice ones are going for around $8,000 or even more.
Great drachm Funny enough I had the opportunity to show it only a few days ago, but for the purpose of your thread it's appropriate to re-show Hadrian, Drachm Alexandria mint, c. AD 131-132 AVT KAI TRAI ADRIA CEB, Draped and laureate bust of Hadrian right Nilus leaning left. Behind an hippopotamus. L IS in field (regnal year 16) 23.87 gr Ref : Sear #1259, RCV #3763 var, Emmett #1017/16 (R1) Q
The common year for Nilus seated with crocodile is 16 (LIS). It is a lovely coin save for that little omission.
Q beat me to it. We should be glad this is a seated coin since the reclining version comes in more regnal years than not. Mine is year 12 but still has a 16 above which is the hoped for Nilometer reading of 16 cubits. A flood of this level insured the fields would be coverd and crops would grow.
I swapped out my image for Bing’s better lightened version (thanks). I should try again and try to get rid of the edge reflection. I am still getting the hang of photographing my coins. Glad to narrow down the date. I wasn’t sure whether there were more unlisted dates or not. There is still a trace of some sort of character at the very edge of the defect on mine. These are very cool coins, I love the hippopotamus one!
Well here's my rugged Nilus for the third time. It has a completely fake patina. By mistake I completely stripped off the fragile original surface except for a few small green spots and one tiny red one on the obverse. I scrubbed it down to the original metal and repatinated it using Jax brown toner, ultrafine steel wool, and Renwax. (The oven helped.) An interesting but appalling lesson in fakery. I tried to trade it here but everyone (smartly) avoided it. I've grown to like it. If a numisdoofus like me can do this you can just imagine what some sellers get up to! @SeptimusT I never tire of looking at Nilus coins and I love every coin pictured here especially your new masterpiece.
Those big ol' thick coins are fun to hold aren't they? I have this Hadrian drachm... Hadrian 117-138 AD Æ Drachm (35mm, 15.4g) Dated yr 2 (117/8 AD) Alexandria Laureate bust right, slight drapery. / Nilus reclining left, holding reed and cornucopia; below; L B (date) in ex. Köln 760. This coin is pretty thin for an Alexnadrian drachm, which was a bit disappointing.
Mine has Nilus reclining. LIH = year 18, 133/4. 32 mm. Bought in 1980 in a Minneapolis US-coin store that had some ancients. Emmett 1014 Sear II 3776
I would not be ashamed of that coin at all, @Macromius. Regardless of what it’s been through, I think it’s a very attractive coin, as are all of the others on this thread. Seems it’s hard to go wrong with these.
@SeptimusT Thank you for the kind words about my coin. Here's my very first Nilus, purchased during my early coin collecting days. It's 24 grams and has a really crazy thick patina as you can see. The obverse is a mess of poor cleaning so I have not included it. Still, I am sentimentally attached to this coin and look at it often. What a carbuncle! Blow it up to see details. .
