Classical Numismatic Group, LLC
Triton XXV 11-12 Jan 2022
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Hadrian. AD 117-138. Æ Sestertius (32mm, 26.71 g, 12h). "Travel series" issue ("Provinces cycle") – The province alone. Rome mint. Struck circa AD 130-133. HADRIANVS AVG COS III P P, laureate and draped bust right / AFRICA, S C in exergue, Africa, draped, wearing elephant-skin headdress, reclining left, leaning on a rock, holding scorpion in right hand and cornucopia in left; to left, basket of grain ears. RIC II.3 1609; Strack 709ζ; Banti 92; BMCRE 1709-11. Brown patina, minor roughness. VF.
Ex collection of a Classical Scholar; Günther Schlüter Collection (Chaiman of the German Numismatic Society, 1975-1977), purchased from Boutin, February 1995.
Here, Africa is represented wearing a distinctive elephant-skin headdress (first depicted on coins of Ptolemy I four centuries before). She cradles a cornucopia, reflecting the province's status as the Empire's granary, and also holds a scorpion, perhaps representing the local fauna or an astrological allusion.
Ex collection of a Classical Scholar; Günther Schlüter Collection (Chaiman of the German Numismatic Society, 1975-1977), purchased from Boutin, February 1995.
Here, Africa is represented wearing a distinctive elephant-skin headdress (first depicted on coins of Ptolemy I four centuries before). She cradles a cornucopia, reflecting the province's status as the Empire's granary, and also holds a scorpion, perhaps representing the local fauna or an astrological allusion.