Æ29 - Antoninus Pius L Β

Year two of Antoninus Pius's reign — the regnal year marked by the L Β on the reverse — fell immediately after his accession following Hadrian's death in July 138. Antoninus had been Hadrian's second adopted heir, chosen only after Hadrian's first choice, Lucius Aelius Caesar, died of illness in January of that same year. The Alexandria mint under Roman rule produced dated bronze issues by Egyptian regnal year rather than by Roman consular dating, a retention of Ptolemaic administrative practice that makes precise attribution of early Antonine provincials unusually straightforward.