AR23 - Antoninus Pius L ΙΖ

Year 17 of Antoninus Pius corresponds to 153–154 AD, a period of administrative calm in Egypt unusual enough to be worth noting — no major revolt, no flood crisis on record, just the machinery of Roman provincial coinage grinding forward. The Alexandrian mint produced billon tetradrachmas annually throughout his reign, one of the longer uninterrupted runs in the series. Emmett 1428.17 is among the more frequently encountered of the year-17 issues, though billon quality varies considerably across the type as the alloy's silver content had been declining steadily since the reign of Nero.