During the Roman Republic lay the supervision of coinage with the Senate who also fixed the monetary standard and determined the number of coins to be minted. In charge of the mint were the moneyers, who were controlled by a quaestor. The moneyers themselves oversaw several workers: designers and die-engravers, helpers for the smelting of the metals, craftsmen for the manufacturing of the flans and for the striking of coins. The mint workers were mostly slaves or freedmen. The moneyers, on the other hand, were Roman citizens from influential families.
About 200 BC the moneyers began to sign the coins they issued. Their signatures appear until the end of the Republic, and even during the early principate.
On the obverse of this denarius from the year 101 BC is within a laurel wreath the head of Roma wearing a winged Attic helmet; behind her stands PV as mint control mark. On the revese races Victoria, the goddess of victory, in a biga. Over her head are the letters RVF, below her M. LVCILI for the moneyer M. Lucilius Rufus.