Gemini III, January 9th, 2007
Lot # 378 Estimate: US$1750 


Hadrian. (117-138 AD). Silver cistophoric tetradrachm (10.94 gm). Unattributed mint. 
HADRIANVS AVGVSTVS P P, bare-headed, draped bust 
right / COS III, Athena standing left, holding patera and 
spear, the shield at her feet obscured by the undertype. 
Metcalf Type 118 (15 ex), new dies. BMCRE 1071. Cohen 294 (30 Fr.). RIC 503. 
Overstruck on a cistophorus of Mark Antony and Octavia, RPC 2202. 
Extremely fine. 

Coils of the snakes from the undertype’s reverse are visible below and behind Athena and in front of her face. On the 
obverse, traces of the former obverse legend [DESI]G ITER ET 
T[ER] survive below Hadrian’s bust. This legend is so near 
the edge of the coin that there cannot have been an ivy wreath outside it, guaranteeing that the undertype was RPC 
2202, not 2201. 

© 2006 Gemini, LLC
Lot 378 was unsold.

Re-used by permission of Harlan J Berk (www.harlanjberk.com) 
and Freeman & Sear (www.freemanandsear.com)