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Dupondius - Augustus AVGVST
| Issuer | Roman Empire (27 BC - 395 AD) |
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| Year | 23 BC - 14 AD |
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| Shape | Round (irregular) |
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| Obverse description | Bare head of Augustus facing right, rendered in the classicising portrait style characteristic of early Augustan bronze coinage. The effigy displays finely detailed hair swept forward over the brow, with individual locks rendered in low relief. The surrounding circular legend reads IMP AVGVST TR POT, distributed around the periphery of the flan. The coin exhibits a deep olive-brown patina with areas of green encrustation, and bears a post-antique piercing at the upper left of the flan consistent with secondary use as a pendant. |
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| Obverse lettering | IMP AVGVST TR POT (Translation: Imperator Augustus, Tribunicia Potestate. Supreme commander (Imperator) Augustus, holder of tribunician power.) |
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| Additional information |
Augustus never held the title of emperor in the Roman constitutional sense — he ruled as *princeps*, carefully maintaining the fiction of restored republican government. The dupondius was part of a reformed bronze coinage introduced around 23 BC, when Augustus overhauled the Roman monetary system and assigned responsibility for base-metal issues to the Senate, which is why these pieces carry the SC mark. The arrangement was as much political theater as monetary policy.
RIC I 550 is a Lugdunum mint product, struck under the altar series associated with the altar of Roma and Augustus at Lyon — a deliberate projection of imperial cult into the western provinces.