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 - Justinian I Rome, ✶K♰
| Issuer | Byzantine Empire |
|---|---|
| Year | 539-565 |
| 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 | Diademed, draped, and cuirassed bust of Emperor Justinian I facing right, rendered in the stylized late antique manner characteristic of Byzantine coinage. The diadem is adorned with pendilia visible at the ear, and the cuirass displays layered pteryges at the shoulder. The emperor's features are depicted with a prominent nose and chin in profile. The encircling Latin legend runs along the rim of the irregular flan, partially visible due to the coin's struck fabric. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | A large Greek letter K, denoting the value of 20 nummi, dominates the central field, boldly rendered in the monumental style typical of Byzantine fractional coinage. A six-pointed star is positioned to the left of the K, while a Latin cross appears to the right. The entire design is enclosed within a beaded or rope-pattern wreath border that follows the coin's irregular circular outline. The reverse is plain and uncluttered, emphasizing the denomination mark in accordance with Justinianic monetary reform conventions. |
| 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 | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
Justinian I reopened the Rome mint around 537–538 following the Gothic War's first phase, when Belisarius retook the city from Ostrogothic control. Production was intermittent and chronically undersupplied — the mint operated under near-constant military pressure, and the city itself changed hands again briefly in 546 when Totila's forces sacked it. Coins struck here carry a distinct roughness relative to Constantinople output, a product of provincial die-cutting and disrupted supply chains rather than carelessness.
The Rome mint closed permanently sometime after 565, Justinian's death year. Its total productive lifespan under Byzantine authority was barely three decades.