AR24 - Hadrian L Ε

Year five of Hadrian's reign coincided with his sweeping administrative reforms of the Egyptian province, which he governed through a prefect rather than visiting himself until 130 AD. Alexandria's mint operated under direct imperial oversight and produced billon tetradrachms — debased silver that had been standard Egyptian practice since the Ptolemies — in a closed currency system that prevented these coins from circulating outside Egypt's borders.

The Köln and Dattari references place this piece within a well-documented sequence, though die alignment and flan preparation vary considerably across the L Ε series.