| Note |
In the sale catalogue it is described as ‘Hippopotame à dr. Inédit’ (followed by Emmett 863). This is rather puzzling since the animal depicted on the coin seems definitely to be an elephant. Elephants occur only rarely on the Hadrianic coinage: on 12 mm coins of years 7, 9 and 10 (which, of course, are anepigraphic and may not be of Hadrian) and the 17 mm denomination of year 11. The hippopotamus had, however, appeared on tetradrachms of years 4-6. We wondered if it might be a misdescribed bronze coin but the catalogue, which is well-informed, definitely includes it among the billon coins of year 8. But Keith Emmett points out that it would be the only occurrence of an elephant on a tetradrachm for any emperor. Confirmation required.
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