New Hadrian Drachm of Alexandria

I just received this coin today, struck in Alexandria in the year 127-128 A.D. It is a good example of the "Nilos reclining" type, and I am rather pleased with it's appearance. Here are some of the details...

Type: AE Drachm, 32mm 24.42 grams

Obverse: AVT KAI TPAI AAPIA CEB, Laureate draped and cuirassed bust right

Reverse: LDW (delta) EK in exergue, Nilos reclining left upon a crocodile, holding cornucopia and reed, Genius emerging from the cornucopia and pointing at letters IS in upper field

Reference: Milne 1269





Please share any Hadrian coins of Alexandria or any Hadrians you wish! Also, if the attribution is incorrect please advise, I did quite a bit of research on it but I may be in error . Thanks for looking!

 

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Mine is similar. I don't have Milne and can't say I see a certain Genius but CNG had a better one that may show a figure atop the cornucopia.
https://www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=261306

 

Sweet addition.

 

Lovely coin! Here's some Unicode for you to cut and paste into your catalog: AVT KAI TPAI AΔPIA CЄB ΔѠΔЄΚ

 

THANKS @Roman Collector !

 

That's a sweet coin. I picked up this Hadrian drachm not too long ago

Egypt, Alexandria. Hadrian. A.D. 117-138. AE drachm (32.5 mm, 21.23 g, 1 h). Dated year 15=A.D. 130-131. AVT KAI TPAIA AΔPIA CEB, laureate head right / L IE, Hadrian standing left, holding scepter, greeted by Alexandria, clad in elephant skin headdress, chiton, and peplos, holding two grain ears and kissing emperor’s extended hand. Dattari 1610; Milne 1315; Emmett 964

 

Don't you just looooove these big drachms? Nice heft, nice flan shape, nice feel, interesting designs. I like that you can read the "16" on your coin-- representative of the ideal level of Nile flooding for the optimum yield of crops: 16 cubits (24 feet; 7.3 meters).

From The Nilometer in Cairo, on WaterHistory.org:


I have an abused drachm of Antoninus Pius which depicts a Nilometer. It's that tombstone-ish thing in the upper left field. It is the opening to a Nilometer (the article cited above will give you a better visual different styles of Nile flood gauges).

EGYPT, Alexandria. Antoninus Pius
AE drachm, regnal year 17 (CE 153/4)
Obv: laureate bust left
Rev: Nilus, with crocodile below him, reclining left, holding reed and cornucopia; to left, a nilometer entrance, in front of which stands a Genius; L-IZ in upper field
Ref: Emmett 1622.17; Dattari 2764
Ex Robert L. Grover Collection of Roman-Egyptian Coinage, previously held by the Art Institute of Chicago (1981.475); Supposedly ex Dattari Collection (Giovanni Dattari, 1853-1923), not in Savio.

Milne lists six examples of this coin, number 1264-1269 although number 1265 has a slightly different rendering of the regnal year. I'm not sure of the proper convention for giving the attribution in such a case. In the concordance table of Emmett (and your coin is Emmett 1014.12), he simply lists the first entry, Milne 1264. Milne 1269 is not wrong though . I guess you could say Milne 1264-1269.

Here's the Milne excerpt:


...

A few more Hadrian drachms:


Hadrian drachm / Nilus seated left, holding reed, crocodile below right. Emmett 1016, RY16


Hadrian drachm / canopic jars (probably statuettes rather than actual jars). 35 mm, 24.8 gm. Emmett 933.18


Hadrian drachm / Isis Pharia and the lighthouse of Alexandria. 32 mm, 23.3 gm. Emmett 1002.18


Hadrian drachm / personification of Alexandria, wearing elephant skin head dress, kissing the hand of Hadrian. 35 mm, 24.8 gm. Emmett 964.15

 

Great coins @TIF - many thanks!

 

Wow! That's really cool how @ancient coin hunter 's coin tells how deep the Nile was that year!

My favorite thing about the ancients board at CT is how each member freely shares knowledge along with photos of their coins. I never fail to learn something new every time I visit.

I need to get one of those Nile depth coins now!

 

Rather than a record of that year's actual flood level, I think the coin expressed the hope that the Nilometer would read 16 cubits that year and every year. They were imploring Nilus to grant them the ideal flood level.

 

@ancient coin hunter, I completely ignored the obverse when citing your Milne number. I often shortchange the obverses because the Alexandrian reverses are so interesting!

Milne's first two entries for this drachm have a legend arrangement different from the others so it is possible that a more specific Milne number can be assigned. I'll take another look in the morning when my eyes and brain are fresh.

 

I saw the Nilometers at Elephantine (Aswan) and Abydos (Seti's Temple) on my trip to Egypt a few years back...also saw Antinopolis too, across the Nile from El-Ashmunein where the great temple of Thoth was located. (Greeks and Romans called the town Hermopolis Magna). Antinopolis is now called el-Sheikh Ibada...

 

Here is an encaustic wax portrayal attached to a mummy of a woman suggestive of the style of Sabina, Hadrian's wife, discovered at Antinopolis and dated to the same period.... these encaustic wax paintings are amazing...

 

Nice drachm!

All the examples shown so far have Nilus with his pet crocodile. I've got one here with what's supposed to be a hippopotamus. Some have a baby genius sitting on top of the cornucopia, and others don't seem to have it, but on those that do the little guy can be really tiny and hard to see, especially if the surfaces are too worn or rough. I'm not sure if he's there on mine, either.



And my example of the type shown by TIF with the domed Nilometer (entrance?) with ΙϚ inscribed above the head of the little Genius.

 

Wow such coincidence @ancient coin hunter I also got mine few days ago! Mine has sabina and her hubby both on the coin.

 

I wish I own one of these I haven't seen any of these roman Egyptian paintings coming in any major auctions yet!

 

I think they all are in museums - the first large cache of these paintings were found in the Fayyum region of Egypt, some others at Antinopolis. Sir William Flinders Petrie was the first who excavated and cataloged the paintings in the 1890's. The diversity and quality of execution of the works is mind-boggling. Such detailed and naturalized portraits didn't appear again until the works of the great Renaissance masters. And many of them were painted during the reign of Hadrian and the four other "good emperors" and on up into the middle of the third century.

Googling it yields a lot of information on the web, fyi

https://www.google.com/search?q=wax...rome..69i57.7933j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

 

sorry but what is the meaning of IS in the upper field

 

I love these.
Unfortunately mine had a sprout of BD pop up on it and is currently in treatment, rehab is going well though.


EGYPT, Alexandria. Hadrian. AD 117-138. BI Tetradrachm (23.8mm, 12.60 g, 12h). Dated RY 17 (AD 132/133). Laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust right / Nilus reclining left on crocodile, holding cornucopia and reed; L IZ (date) above. Köln 1064; Dattari (Savio) 1434 var. (obv. legend); K&G 32.534; RPC III 5822; Emmett 876.17.

 

See post #7 in this thread.