Aureus - Hadrian P M TR P COS III, Minerva

Hadrian's early aurei from 121–123 fall within the first years after his contested accession, when he was still navigating the Senate's deep suspicion following the execution of four senior consulars — a move he blamed on Trajan's freedmen but which few believed. The COS III dating places this piece in a narrow window before his first major provincial tour, during which the mint's output shifted significantly in both type and emphasis.

RIC II.3 584 is among the better-documented types in the revised Hadrianic census, benefiting from the 2019 re-cataloguing that split the older RIC II entries with considerably more die evidence than Mattingly had available.