Aureus - Augustus SIGNIS RECEPTIS CL V S P Q R

The SIGNIS RECEPTIS type commemorates one of Augustus's most celebrated diplomatic achievements: the return of the Roman standards lost at Carrhae in 53 BC, where Crassus and some 20,000 legionaries were destroyed by the Parthians. The recovery came not through military force but through negotiation in 19 BC — a fact Augustus's propaganda machinery worked hard to obscure, framing the event as a conquest. The Senate voted a triumphal arch in his honor, though Augustus declined the triumph itself, a calculated gesture of Republican modesty.

RIC I 85B is one of several closely related types from this propaganda moment, likely struck at the Pergamum or Spanish mint rather than Rome.