Æ18 - Maximinus C R I F S AN CCCV

The date formula CCCV — year 305 of the Pontic era, corresponding to 235–236 AD — places this issue in the very first year of Maximinus Thrax's reign, a man who seized power by having his predecessor Alexander Severus murdered in a military camp on the Rhine. Sinope, a Roman colony with deep roots as a Greek Black Sea trading post, maintained its own civic calendar long after provincial integration, which is precisely why this bronze carries a local year count rather than a consular date.

Maximinus never visited Rome during his entire reign. He ruled entirely from military camps.