As - Drusus Caesar IMP T CAES DIVI VESP F AVG P M TR P P P COS VIII RESTITVIT

This as belongs to Titus's restoration series — a deliberate program in which the emperor reissued coins of earlier, respected rulers under his own name. The prototype honored here is Drusus Caesar, son of Tiberius, who died in 23 AD under circumstances ancient sources considered suspicious; Tacitus implies poisoning at the hands of Sejanus. Titus's restitution coinage was almost certainly a political statement, aligning his reign with the more respectable Julio-Claudian memory while distancing it from Domitian's looming shadow.

The series was struck late in Titus's short reign, likely 80–81 AD, the same years Rome was still reeling from the Vesuvius eruption and a catastrophic fire in the city.