Sestertius - Vespasian SPES AVGVSTA S C, Spes

Vespasian struck heavily on Spes — Hope — in 71 AD as deliberate political messaging. He had taken power the previous year after the catastrophic Year of the Four Emperors, and his mint output in this period was explicitly propagandistic, reassuring a Roman public that had watched three emperors die violently in eighteen months. The Flavian dynasty needed to project continuity and optimism, and it did so systematically through coin types rather than proclamation.

RIC II.1 206 is a Rome mint issue, one of several Spes types Vespasian authorized in his first full regnal year.