Nummus - Maxentius CONSERV URB SVAE, Rome

Maxentius ruled Italy and Africa from 306 to 312 without ever being recognized as legitimate by the Tetrarchic college — a usurper by their definition, though he controlled Rome itself. The CONSERV VRB SVAE reverse type was his direct answer to that political isolation, an explicit claim that he, not Galerius or Constantine, was the true preserver of the city. He exploited Rome's symbolic weight aggressively, reopening the city mint and invoking the Eternal City's prestige at a moment when most emperors hadn't governed from Rome in decades.

RIC VI 258 places this issue in the final stretch before Milvian Bridge ended his reign in October 312.