Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
Denarius - Hadrian COS III or COS III
| Issuer | Roman Imperial Mint |
|---|---|
| Year | 128-130 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Denarius, Reform of Augustus (27 BC – AD 215) |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Latin |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | A galley depicted in profile sailing to the right, with a raised prow ornamented with a curved acrostolium and a stern fitted with an aplustre. The hull shows a row of oars or shields along its side, and a figure of the helmsman or pilot is visible at the stern, seated and steering. Above the galley in the upper field the partial legend COS is visible, with III appearing in the lower exergual area, together reading COS III. The composition is bold and deeply struck, consistent with the Rome mint's output during the later Hadrianic series. |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
The COS III designation on Hadrian's denarii dates the issue to his third consulship, held perpetually from 119 AD onward as an honorific rather than an active administrative role. These pieces fall within the middle period of his reign, coinciding with his second great tour of the provinces — a journey that took him through North Africa, Greece, and the East between 128 and 132. Hadrian's near-constant absence from Rome during these years meant the mint operated under tight imperial instruction delivered at considerable geographic remove.
RIC II.3 #3092 reflects the substantial re-cataloguing of Hadrianic coinage undertaken in the revised second edition, which reorganized hundreds of previously misattributed types.