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Hadrian travel series rarity

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curtislclay:
The whole travel series was certainly struck together, to commemorate all of the provinces, armies, and cities that Hadrian had visited during his reign. On my reconstruction the date was c. 131-2 AD, and the occasion was the return of Hadrian to Rome from his second great tour, c. 131 AD.

To explain the differing volumes, we would of course have to include the RESTITVTORI denarii (see below), plus any other denarii that may have been included in the same issue, for example was there a type for Sabina? We would also have to know on what system the mint of Rome normally struck denarii for Hadrian.

Unfortunately these are problems that still have to be solved, because Philip Hill's attempt at a reconstruction of Hadrian's coinage is wrong in innumerable points and largely pure speculation!

RESTITVTORI HISPANIAE  35

RESTITVTORI GALLIAE  29

RESTITVTORI AFRICAE  6

timka:
Hi Doug,

Let me share a local insight to your question - my own impression is that circulations of Hadrian Journeys Series was not connected with the regions. I refer to the region where I belong -  further west from Pannonia,  towards Sarmatians/Roxolanis  territories , which are not connected with Hadrian Journeys route at all. So, given local MD finds and small barbarian hoards, I have to admit that distribution of the types is the same -  Aegyptos and Africa are the most common, whereas Asia, Germania, Alexandria are on the other end –much scarcer.  Of course, it would be interesting to hear from someone from Spain or Northern Africa, and to see if eg HISPANIA or ALEXANDRIA/NILUS types are commoner finds than others types specifically in domestic region. 

Cheers,

Z.

Carausius:
I don't think the travel series denarii would have circulated in Alexandria. Roman Egypt was a closed currency system.

curtislclay:
The travel series was part of the normal Roman coinage, and was meant to circulate everywhere that Roman aurei, denarii, and bronze coins normally circulated. I think there is no evidence whatever that the types mentioning particular provinces were meant to circulate preferentially in those provinces.

traveler:
I'd think the Restitutor (RIC 321-329) and Adventus series (RIC 315-320) should be part of the travel series, as they also mention locations which Hadrian travelled to. I understand some of the denarii from the two series are extremely rare though (e.g. Restitutori Macedoniae RIC 329, or Adventvi Avg Africae RIC 316), which is why I'm not holding out hope to obtain an example! The eight provinces seem to be more or less attainable though.

Thanks for the link to the 1929 Reka Devnia hoard Curtis, it's a very interesting read. I'm a little surprised to see 17 denarii featuring Alexandria were found though, as I only see about 2 examples on acsearch. Wonder where the rest went.

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