Æ25 - Antoninus Pius C I F? CCIIII

Sinope's status as a Roman colony — formally established under Julius Caesar in 45 BC — gave it the right to strike colonial bronze with Latin legends, unusual for a Pontic city surrounded by Greek-issuing neighbors. The colonists' descendants were still asserting that Roman identity two centuries later under Antoninus Pius, whose exceptionally stable 23-year reign produced a vast volume of provincial bronze across the eastern mints. The COS IIII in the reference designation dates the issue to after 145 AD, when Pius received his fourth consulship.