10 Nummi - Justinian I Nicomedia, Type N I I

Nicomedia — modern Izmit in northwestern Turkey — operated as one of Justinian's secondary eastern mints, distinguishing its output with the mintmark NIK. The 10 nummi denomination sat at the bottom of the reformed Justinianic bronze hierarchy established after 538, when the coinage system was restructured to rationalize fractional values across the empire's proliferating mint network. Nicomedia's bronze output from this period is considerably scarcer than that of Constantinople, a disparity reflecting both lower production volumes and the city's diminished administrative status following its catastrophic earthquake in 358.