Aureus - Augustus and Tiberius TI CAESAR AVG F TR POT XV

Struck in the final year of Augustus's life, this aureus belongs to the series issued as Tiberius held tribunician power for the fifteenth time — a dating bracket that places production squarely in 13–14 AD. The tribunician power renewal was the principal mechanism by which Augustus publicly groomed his successor, and the repeated appearance of Tiberius's titulature on Augustan gold coinage was a deliberate, years-long campaign of dynastic advertisement. Augustus died on 19 August 14 AD; production of this type would have ceased within weeks.

RIC I 221 is relatively well-attested in major collections, though aureii of any Augustan issue are genuinely scarce in absolute terms given the volume of gold that was later melted down during successive monetary reforms.