As - Augustus P LVRIVS AGRIPPA IIIVIR A A A F F S C

Struck under the moneyer Lucius Naevius Surdinus — one of three tresviri monetales appointed annually to oversee the Roman mint — this issue reflects Augustus's deliberate restoration of the traditional magistracy after decades of civil war had effectively collapsed the Republican monetary apparatus. The tresviri had existed for centuries but their authority had been hollowed out under the triumviral period. Reactivating them with real issuing power was a calculated act of constitutional theater.

The S·C on the reverse was not mere decoration — it formally attributed authority for bronze coinage to the Senate, a distinction Augustus maintained scrupulously while retaining gold and silver for himself.