Quinarius - Hadrian P M TR P COS III, Victory

The quinarius denomination had been largely moribund for over a century before Hadrian's reign, issued only sporadically under Augustus and a handful of successors. Hadrian's revival of it remains something of a scholarly puzzle — the coins entered circulation in negligible quantities and seem to have served no practical monetary function that the denarius couldn't already cover.

The COS III dating anchors this piece to the period following Hadrian's third consulship, which he held without iterating further — unusual restraint for an emperor who otherwise accumulated tribunician renewals methodically each year.