Æ20 - Antoninus Pius ΝΕΙΚΑΙΕΩΝ

Nicaea's civic bronze issues under Antoninus Pius reflect a period of unusual administrative stability in Bithynia — the province had been under direct imperial supervision since Pliny the Younger's governorship under Trajan, owing to chronic financial mismanagement by local councils. By the Antonine period, civic minting had resumed with enough confidence that cities like Nicaea were again asserting their identity through local bronze, even as Rome maintained tight oversight of precious metal coinage.