AR28 - Hadrian COS III

Eumenea, a Phrygian city in the conventus of Apamea, struck coins with unusual autonomy for a provincial mint during Hadrian's reign — a period when the emperor's extensive touring of the eastern provinces made local coinages politically charged gestures of loyalty. The COS III designation dates this piece to after 119 AD, when Hadrian assumed his third consulship, narrowing the window considerably.

Provincial silver of this weight from interior Anatolia is genuinely scarce. Eumenea's output was modest, and attrition over nearly two millennia has been severe.