Aureus - Hadrian ANN DCCCLXXIIII NAT VRB P CIR CON, Genius

Struck in 121 AD to mark the 874th anniversary of Rome's founding — ANN DCCCLXXIIII, anno urbis conditae — this aureus belongs to a tightly grouped series Hadrian issued celebrating the Natalis Urbis, the birthday of the city. Hadrian was almost certainly in Rome that year, having recently returned from the Rhine frontier, and the games accompanying the anniversary were among the most lavishly funded of his reign.

RIC II.3 353 is not common. The Natalis Urbis aurei were prestige issues, not broad circulation pieces.