Tetradrachm - Aurelianus L Є, Alexandria

Aurelian's Egyptian tetradrachms occupy a peculiar moment in Roman monetary history: he had just reunified the empire after crushing Zenobia's Palmyrene breakaway in 272, and Alexandria — which had been minting under foreign authority — was abruptly reintegrated into the imperial system. The regnal year Є (year 5) places this coin in Aurelian's final period before his assassination in 275, during a campaign eastward.

The billon content of Alexandrian tetradrachms had been declining for decades; by this issue the silver is effectively a surface wash over a copper core, reflecting the same debasement crisis Aurelian was simultaneously trying to address in the western mints through his currency reform of 274.