Æ24 - Valerian and Gallienus ΝΙΚΑΙΕΩΝ

Nicaea was one of the most prolific civic minting authorities in Bithynia, producing bronze coinage through the reigns of dozens of emperors — but the joint reign of Valerian and Gallienus represents one of the final phases of that tradition. The Roman provincial mint system was effectively dismantled within a generation of this issue, leaving civic bronzes from Nicaea an abrupt endpoint in a centuries-long local sequence.

Valerian was captured by the Sasanian king Shapur I at the Battle of Edessa in 260, ending the co-reign that defines this coin's date range.