Quinarius Aureus - Trajan P M TR P COS III P P, Victory

Trajan's third consulship, held in 100 AD, coincided with the period immediately preceding the Dacian Wars — the campaigns that would ultimately fund an extraordinary building program in Rome and produce some of the most celebrated coinage of the Principate. The quinarius aureus, struck at half the weight of a standard aureus, was never a common denomination in any period; surviving examples are rare enough that even major institutional collections hold few.

RIC II 44 is among the more elusive entries in Trajan's early gold coinage.