Hadrian augustus, 117 – 134. Aureus 134-138, AV 7.24 g. HADRIANVS AVG COS III P P Bare-headed and draped bust l. Rev. AFRICA Africa, wearing elephant-skin, reclining l., resting r. hand on lion standing l. and leaning on basket; behind, corn ears. C 151. BMC 810 (these dies). RIC 298h. Calicó 1194 (these dies).
Very rare. A bold portrait and a very interesting reverse composition,
light reddish tone and about extremely fine / extremely fine

Ex Sotheby's 28 November 1986, a Deceased Nobleman, 56; CNG 42, 1997, 908; CNG Numismatic Review 22, 1997, 39 and Gorny & Mosch 190, 2010, 491 sales. From the collection of a retired banker.

As famous as they became, Hadrian’s travels are poorly documented, and scholars have had to reconstruct them through many different kinds of evidence. It is clear that his first trip occupied the years 121 to 125, that his second occurred from 128 to 132, and that his third and final voyage was staged from 134 to 136. Hadrian seems to have visited Africa proconsularis in 123 on his first voyage, and again in 128 on his second. Africa proconsularis was the region of North Africa directly below the length of the Italian peninsula. It was bordered in the east by Mauretania/Numidia and on the west by Cyrenaica, and it included the important centres of Leptis Magna and Carthage. The great agricultural estates of Africa generated enormous profits that sponsored many a senatorial career; indeed, the senators from Africa proconsularis accounted for the largest representation from any western province. On this aureus, struck several years after Hadrian’s last visit to Africa, we see a remarkably elegant representation of the province, which is personified as a woman reclining seductively, nude to the waist. In the details of the composition we find classic emblems of the region: she wears an elephant headdress, places her hand on the mane of the lion seated at her side, and she rests her left arm on a basket filled with an agricultural bounty. On another version of this type that appears on Hadrians’ coins the lion is absent and Africa is shown holding a cornucopia and a scorpion, and reclines beside a basket of produce.