Denarius - Trajan S P Q R OPTIMO PRINCIPI, Victory

Issued during the years bracketing Trajan's Dacian Wars — the first campaign concluded in 102, the second launched in 105 — this denarius belongs to a period of deliberate propaganda output from the Roman mint. The Senate's award of the title Optimus Princeps ("best ruler") in 114 AD was still years away for most of this issue's run, making the abbreviation on these coins an early, calculated deployment of a title Trajan's circle was actively cultivating before its formal recognition.

RIC II 213 is among the more frequently encountered types of the Trajanic series, produced across a long emission with considerable die variation.