Shell medium-sized, attaining height of 15.9 mm, width of 16.1 mm, conical, umbilicate, finely sculptured. Protoconch about 350 µm maximum diameter, 1 whorl. Teleoconch whorls 7.3, weakly concave; first two whorls with low, rounded axial riblets and 2-3 beaded spiral cords; axial sculpture absent after second whorl; spiral cords strongly beaded, increasing by intercalation to 10-12, of which abapical 3 strongest cords forming periphery on last whorl, beads rounded; periphery narrowly rounded. Base flat to weakly convex, with 17-19 narrow, finely beaded spiral cords. Umbilicus funnelshaped, 17%-20% maximum shell diameter, wall white. Aperture subquadrate, thickened and strongly ridged within, lips thin, crenulate; columella weakly sigmoid, thickened, terminating in narrow denticle. Shell ground color ivory with few, faint patches of golden brown.

Shells of this species are very similar to those of Calliostoma tampaense but differ by having a slightly larger protoconch (350 µm vs. 325 µm); by having a more broadly rounded, more strongly projecting periphery; by being much thicker; by having more strongly beaded basal spiral cords; and by lacking a distinct color pattern. If the holotype of C. aulicum represents the size of a fully grown adult, as the thickened and ridged aperture seems to indicate, then C. aulicum is much smaller than C. tampaense, shells of which attain a height of about 30 mm (Quinn, in press).

Type locality: Off Colon, Panama, JOHN ELLIOTT PILLSBURY Station P-451, 9°22.0'N, 79°56.0'W, in approximately 12 m.
Distribution: Calliostoma aulicum is known from off Panama and eastern Venezuela in 12-48 m.