Tetradrachm - Hadrianus L ΔEKATOY, Alexandria

Year 10 of Hadrian's reign corresponds to 125/126 AD, a moment when the emperor was deep into his celebrated tour of the eastern provinces. He had visited Egypt in 130 AD — but the groundwork of administrative attention that made Alexandria's mint so productive during his reign began years earlier. The Alexandrian tetradrachm series under Hadrian is extensive, and die links across regnal years have been documented by scholars working from the RPC Online corpus, making this a coin type that rewards close comparative study.

The billon content of "silver" Alexandrian tetradrachms by this period was already degraded well below classical standards — typically around 20–25% fine silver — a debasement that had been progressive since the Julio-Claudian era.