Dupondius or As - Sabina // S C, Ceres

Sabina, wife of Hadrian, received her first tribunicia potestas in 128 AD, and the consequent emission of bronze coinage in her name marks one of the earlier instances of a reigning empress appearing on the Roman aes series with any regularity. The Ceres reverse type was a deliberate ideological pairing — associating the empress with abundance and the fertility of the Roman state rather than with any personal cult.

The RIC II.3 revision by Abdy and Mittag significantly reclassified Hadrianic bronzes that had long circulated under imprecise attributions in the older RIC II framework.