Hadrian's earliest aes coinage dates to 117 AD, the year Trajan died in Cilicia and Hadrian's succession — disputed by some senators who doubted the adoption story — had to be legitimized quickly through the legions before the Senate could act. The consular dating COS II without the later COS III places this firmly in that first window, before 119.
RIC II.3 #157 reflects the revised Hadrianic corpus that substantially reorganized earlier attributions; pieces previously scattered across RIC II are now more precisely sequenced.
Hadrian's earliest aes coinage dates to 117 AD, the year Trajan died in Cilicia and Hadrian's succession — disputed by some senators who doubted the adoption story — had to be legitimized quickly through the legions before the Senate could act. The consular dating COS II without the later COS III places this firmly in that first window, before 119.
RIC II.3 #157 reflects the revised Hadrianic corpus that substantially reorganized earlier attributions; pieces previously scattered across RIC II are now more precisely sequenced.