Nummus - Constantius II FEL TEMP REPARATIO, Nicomedia

The FEL TEMP REPARATIO ("happy times are returning") series was launched in 348 AD to celebrate the 1,100th anniversary of Rome's founding, a massive coordinated emission across every operating mint in the empire. Nicomedia, as one of the senior eastern mints and the capital of Diocletian's original administrative reorganization, produced heavily. The falling horseman type — a soldier spearing a dismounted enemy — was politically pointed: Constantius II had been locked in conflict with Persia for years, and the imagery was understood as imperial propaganda tied directly to that campaign.

RIC VIII #71 is among the more common Nicomedia issues of this type, but workshop distinctions between the mint's officinae are worth examining closely. The reverse mintmark SMN with officina letters can narrow attribution to specific production batches.