Æ18 - Marcus Aurelius ΝΙΚΟΜΗΔΕΙΑϹ

Nicomedia served as the administrative capital of Bithynia under Roman rule and was among the most prolific provincial minting cities in the Greek East, producing civic bronze throughout the reigns of successive emperors. This piece falls within the early co-reign of Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus — the first time Rome had operated under two equal Augusti simultaneously — a constitutional novelty that provincial mints navigated by choosing which emperor to honor on individual issues rather than attempting joint types at small module.