Æ25 - Valerian and Gallienus ΕΠΙ ϹΤ ΟΥΑ ΝΕΙΚΙΑ ΠΡ Τ Β ΜΗΤΡΟ/ΠΟΛΕΙΤΩΝ

Metropolis in Ionia was a minor city that punched above its weight administratively during the joint reign of Valerian and Gallienus — the magistrate name preserved in the obverse legend, Oua. Neikias, allows this piece to be placed within a specific civic coinage sequence tied to the Ephesian conventus, the Roman judicial district under which Metropolis fell. Provincial bronzes of this co-regency are often difficult to attribute precisely because so many small Ionian mints produced similar issues simultaneously under the same administrative umbrella.