Æ26 - Antoninus Pius ΝΙΚΑΙΕΩΝ

Nicaea was one of the most politically active minting cities in Bithynia under the Antonines, issuing bronze for local circulation while simultaneously jockeying with Nicomedia for the title of provincial metropolis — a rivalry that shaped civic coinage policy throughout the second century. The ΝΙΚΑΙΕΩΝ ethnic on the reverse asserts that civic identity directly, a function these provincial bronzes served that Roman imperial coinage never needed to.