Æ28 - Gallienus (sole reign) (C I F S AN CCCXXX)

The civic era date encoded in this coin's legend — year 330 of the Pontic era, anchored to 297/6 BC — places the strike in 262/3, the opening years of Gallienus's sole reign after his father Valerian was captured by Shapur I at the Battle of Edessa. Sinope, a historically Greek colony on the Black Sea coast, retained its own civic calendar and minting authority deep into the imperial period, a privilege reflecting its status as a Roman colony since 45 BC under Julius Caesar.