Catalog
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
| Issuer | Nicaea (Bithynia and Pontus) |
|---|---|
| Year | 235-238 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Bronze |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Greek |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Demeter, goddess of the harvest, seated left upon a cista mystica, rendered in draped attire with a polos headdress. She holds a long torch upright in her right hand and extends ears of grain in her left, both attributes emblematic of her divine domain over agriculture and fertility. The Greek ethnic legend ΝΙΚΑΙΕΩΝ is distributed in the field around the central type, identifying the issuing city of Nicaea. The composition is typical of Bithynian provincial bronze coinage of the Severan and early post-Severan periods. |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
Nicaea was one of the most prolific civic minting authorities in Bithynia, and continued striking bronze under Maximinus Thrax despite the emperor never setting foot in the eastern provinces during his reign. His accession in 235 marked the effective end of Severan dynastic rule — he was the first emperor of peasant origin, elevated entirely by military appointment, and was never recognized by the Senate without reluctant coercion.
Provincial bronzes of this reign are frequently the only surviving numismatic record of Maximinus in a given city, as no eastern mint struck imperial coinage for him.