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Sestertius - Hadrian MONETA AVGVSTI S C, Moneta

Issuer Roman Imperial Mint
Year 120-121
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Weight 25 g
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Obverse description Laureate and draped bust of Hadrian facing right, with a full curled beard rendered in fine stippled relief, characteristic of his mature portraiture. The emperor wears a paludamentum fastened at the right shoulder by a circular fibula, with the drapery falling across the left shoulder and chest in elegant folds. The facial features are rendered with strong classicising detail — a broad forehead, prominent nose, and deeply incised eyes — reflecting the philhellenic artistic conventions of the Hadrianic period. The circumferential Latin legend IMP CAESAR TRAIANVS HADRIANVS AVG P M TR P COS III runs around the obverse field, identifying the emperor with his full titulature.
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Reverse script Latin
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Additional information

Hadrian's early sestertii from 120–121 fall within a period of deliberate monetary messaging following Trajan's death — Hadrian was consolidating legitimacy after a succession that many in the Senate considered irregular, if not outright fabricated. The MONETA AVGVSTI type belonged to a broader program of issues invoking Rome's institutional machinery, minted at Rome under the supervision of the tresviri monetales.

RIC II.3 #438 reflects the revised Spink corpus that substantially reorganized Hadrianic bronze, splitting what earlier cataloguers had lumped together by die axis and officina evidence.

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