Carinus, AD 282-284, Tetradrachm

Carinus, Tetradrachm, billon; reign AD 283–285; Alexandria mint, regnal year 2 (AD 284/285); 7.54 g; 19 mm.

Obverse with Greek legend Α Κ Μ Α ΚΑΡΙΝΟϹ ϹΕΒ, laureate and cuirassed bust of Carinus right. Reverse bearing the Alexandrian date mark L B (regnal year 2) in the fields. Struck at Alexandria on the late Roman Egyptian billon fabric, with Greek legends and the regnal-year dating convention. RPC X online (temporary), ID 75851 (unassigned). Carinus, elder son of Carus, ruled the western provinces and briefly the whole empire in opposition to Diocletian until his defeat and death in AD 285. Alexandrian tetradrachms of this period, struck in debased billon and dated by the Egyptian regnal system (L = “year”), represent the last phase of Roman provincial coinage in Egypt before Diocletian’s reforms ended the long-standing tetradrachm series around the mid-290s. This piece, dated L B = regnal year 2, belongs to the year AD 284/285.