It seems that a few year ago Italian anthropologists were able reconstruct the face of St. Nicolas by using his skull.
You can read more about this effort HERE and HERE.
I found these comments quite interesting:
Taking tangents from different parts of the nasal cavity reveals how long the nose was. In Santa’s case, this was particularly tough because his nose was badly broken. "It must have been a very hefty blow because it’s the nasal bones between the eyes that are broken," says Wilkinson
Quite how St Nicholas got his injury is a mystery, but Wilkinson says tales abound of Santa being something of a rebel. "I heard he once punched a bishop," she says. The reconstructed St Nicholas is olive-skinned and white-haired, with a beard shaped in a style popular in the fourth century. "It’s only really the broken nose people are surprised about, but the more I hear about his character, the more it all fits."
A possible source for the broken nose may have been the altercation between him and Arius at the First Council of Nicaea, over what later was deemed the heresy of Arianism.
