Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
20 Nummi - Justin I Nicomedia
| Issuer | Byzantine Empire |
|---|---|
| Year | 518-527 |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The large Greek numeral K (denoting 20 nummi) dominates the central field. To the left of the K, a long upright cross flanked by the letters N and I is clearly visible, forming the mint signature for Nicomedia (NIKO). To the right of the K, an officina letter designates the workshop of issue. The coin is bordered by a plain linear border, consistent with Byzantine hammered bronze coinage of the reign of Justin I. |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | ND (518-527) A - Nicomedia, 1st officina - ND (518-527) B - Nicomedia, 2nd officina - |
| Additional information |
Justin I came to power in 518 as an illiterate Macedonian peasant-soldier who had risen through the ranks of the Excubitors, the imperial palace guard. His nephew Justinian, already positioned as the real administrative mind behind the throne, likely influenced coinage policy from the outset. The Nicomedia mint — operating as NIK — was one of several eastern mints reactivated under Anastasius I's monetary reform of 498, which had reintroduced the large follis and its fractions after decades of debased, anonymous small bronze.
The 20 nummi denomination, equal to a half-follis, occupied an awkward middle ground in daily transactions and was never struck in the volumes the follis achieved.