Nummus - Justinian I Uncertain Mints

Justinian I's reign saw the most ambitious administrative overhaul of Byzantine coinage since Anastasius I reformed the follis in 498 — but the nummus, the smallest denomination in the system, remained stubbornly marginal. These pieces circulated at the absolute floor of daily commerce, 7,200 to the solidus, and were produced at provincial or field mints whose output was never systematically recorded. The "uncertain mints" attribution reflects genuine scholarly impasse rather than incomplete cataloguing; the fabric and module of individual specimens simply do not resolve cleanly to any confirmed workshop.

The BMC Vandal cross-reference is notable — it suggests some of these pieces were struck or circulated in North Africa following Belisarius's reconquest of Carthage in 533.