VESPASIAN
AD 69-79
Billon Tetradrachm. 12.68g, 24.2mm
MINTED: EGYPT, Alexandria, RY 1 (AD 69)
REF: Dattari 353; RPC II 2404; Emmett 202.1
OBVERSE: ΑΥΤ ΤΙΤ ΦΛΑΥΙ ΟΥΕΣΠΑΣΙΑΝ ΚΑΙΣ, Laureate head right; L A (date) before.
REVERSE: ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΕΙΑ, Alexandria standing left, wearing elephant-skin headdress, holding wreath and lotus-tipped scepter.

Grade/Notes:
Almost Very Fine. Slightly porous. 
An interesting issue, from the first year of Vespasian's reign.  Depicted on the reverse is the personification of the city of Alexandria wearing an elephant-skin headdress.  Where the vast majority of the coinage of Roman Alexandria only has the regnal year of the emperor inscribed on the reverse, on this type the legend spells out the name of the city.  
 
Historical Notes:
Egypt supplied as much as half of Rome’s annual grain supply, and was as such a hugely important province. Its economic and cultural heart was Alexandria, the second largest city in the Empire with a population of more than half a million during the time of Augustus. The coins of Roman Egypt were heavily used in daily commerce, and most often found in extremely worn condition. They are nevertheless highly collectible and interesting, sometimes featuring unique Egyptian-themed reverses and deities.