Æ20 - Aemilian ΕΤΟΥϹ ϹΠΔ

Amisus, a Greek colonial city on the Black Sea coast, maintained its own civic bronze coinage under Roman imperial authority well into the third century. The date formula ΕΤΟΥϹ ϹΠΔ places this piece in year 284 of the local Amisene era, correlating to 253 AD — the year Aemilian seized the purple from Trebonianus Gallus, only to be murdered by his own troops within three or four months. Coins naming Aemilian from civic mints are correspondingly rare by simple virtue of how little time there was to produce them.