Nummus - Justinian I Rome, ✶♰✶

Justinian I's nummi — the smallest fractional unit in the Byzantine bronze hierarchy — were produced throughout a reign that saw the reconquest of North Africa, Italy, and parts of Spain, yet these tiny coins remained essentially unchanged across four decades of extraordinary upheaval. The Rome mint resumed Byzantine production after Justinian's forces retook the city from the Ostrogoths in 536, making Roman-struck examples particularly significant: they represent actual fiscal operations in a city that had changed hands violently and would do so again before the century closed.