Æ33 - Antoninus Pius L ΙΖ

Year 17 of Antoninus Pius's reign — the regnal year encoded in the Egyptian dating system as L ΙΖ — places this issue squarely within Alexandria's most productive civic bronzes, struck under the Roman prefect of Egypt rather than by imperial authority in Rome. Alexandrian bronze coinage operated under a closed monetary system: it could not legally circulate outside Egypt, and foreign coins could not circulate within it, forcing all trade through compulsory exchange at the frontier.

The Alexandrian mint recycled dies aggressively, and weight variation across this type is pronounced — 22.72g sits at the heavier end of what excavated hoards suggest for the series.