Aureus - Trajan P M TR P COS V P P

Trajan's fifth consulship — the terminus post quem for this issue — began in 103 AD and was not vacated until his death, making the COS V titulature common across a wide production window. These years coincide with the Dacian Wars: the second campaign concluded in 106 with the sack of Sarmizegetusa and a flood of war booty that directly funded an aggressive minting program in gold. Trajan reportedly brought back over 165 tons of gold from Dacia, and the expanded aureus output of this period reflects that windfall in the most literal sense.