AR23 - Gallienus (sole reign) (L ΙΑ inverted)

The regnal year ΙΑ (year 11) tetradrachm of Gallienus from Alexandria is unremarkable in type, but this piece carries the year numeral inverted — a die-cutting error rather than a variant issue. Alexandria's output during the 260s was enormous and often hurried; Gallienus was fighting simultaneously on multiple frontiers while the empire fractured under the pressure of Postumus in the west and the Palmyrene ambitions taking shape in the east. The mint workers were not operating under calm conditions.

Milne 1539 documents the type; the inverted ΙΑ is a recognized but scarce occurrence within that emission.