Æ28 - Philip I C R I F S AN CCCX (V) (sic)

Sinope had been a Roman colony since the time of Julius Caesar, and its coins consistently reflect that Latin-inflected civic identity long after most Black Sea mints had abandoned the affectation. The reverse legend here — garbled in transmission, rendered as C R I F S AN CCCX (V) with the "(sic)" doing real work — points to a die-cutter working from a model he may not have fully understood, compressing or misreading the colonial formula that normally attests Sinope's foundation date by the Pontic era.

Philip I's brief reign generated substantial provincial output across Asia Minor, partly to fund his peace settlement with Persia in 244.