Heritage World Coin Auctions
NYINC Signature Sale 3044 3-4 January 2016
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Ancients
Maximian, first reign (AD 286-305). AV aureus (21mm, 5.15 gm, 12h). Antioch or Cyzicus, AD 286-287. IMP C MAXIMIANVS AVG, laureate and draped bust of Maximian right / VIRTVTI HERCVLIS, Hercules standing right, leaning on club set on rock; lion's skin on right arm; S C in exergue. RIC 605. Depeyrot 5/12. Calicó 4758. Cohen 663. An exemplary aureus, superbly struck on a broad, round flan, with considerable luster overall. NGC Choice MS 5/5 - 4/5.Ex Archer M. Huntington Collection (NAC 67, 17 October 2012), lot 214 (ANS-HSA 22141). This stunning aureus was struck shortly after Maximian was raised to the rank of co-Augustus in AD 286. Like Diocletian, Maximian was of hardy peasant stock and rose through the ranks of the Roman Army during the war-torn later third century. Once Diocletian was installed as emperor, he almost immediately offered to share power with his old comrade in arms, whom he seems to have trusted implicitly. Maximian was appointed Caesar in AD 284 and was raised to Augustus two years later. Though less of a thinker than Diocletian, Maximian was a better soldier, a fact Diocletian understood and even appreciated. Maximian thus became Hercules to Diocletian's Jupiter, the man of action following the lead of a great planner and organizer. This duality is expressed on the reverse of this aureus, where a well-muscled Hercules is shown leaning on his club in the manner of the Farnese Hercules, a second century AD statue that originally adorned the Baths of Caracalla in Rome (see lot 31066). In AD 293 the Dyarchy was expanded to a Tetrarchy with the addition of two subordinate rulers, the Caesars Constantius I and Galerius.
Estimate: 35000-45000 USD
Maximian, first reign (AD 286-305). AV aureus (21mm, 5.15 gm, 12h). Antioch or Cyzicus, AD 286-287. IMP C MAXIMIANVS AVG, laureate and draped bust of Maximian right / VIRTVTI HERCVLIS, Hercules standing right, leaning on club set on rock; lion's skin on right arm; S C in exergue. RIC 605. Depeyrot 5/12. Calicó 4758. Cohen 663. An exemplary aureus, superbly struck on a broad, round flan, with considerable luster overall. NGC Choice MS 5/5 - 4/5.Ex Archer M. Huntington Collection (NAC 67, 17 October 2012), lot 214 (ANS-HSA 22141). This stunning aureus was struck shortly after Maximian was raised to the rank of co-Augustus in AD 286. Like Diocletian, Maximian was of hardy peasant stock and rose through the ranks of the Roman Army during the war-torn later third century. Once Diocletian was installed as emperor, he almost immediately offered to share power with his old comrade in arms, whom he seems to have trusted implicitly. Maximian was appointed Caesar in AD 284 and was raised to Augustus two years later. Though less of a thinker than Diocletian, Maximian was a better soldier, a fact Diocletian understood and even appreciated. Maximian thus became Hercules to Diocletian's Jupiter, the man of action following the lead of a great planner and organizer. This duality is expressed on the reverse of this aureus, where a well-muscled Hercules is shown leaning on his club in the manner of the Farnese Hercules, a second century AD statue that originally adorned the Baths of Caracalla in Rome (see lot 31066). In AD 293 the Dyarchy was expanded to a Tetrarchy with the addition of two subordinate rulers, the Caesars Constantius I and Galerius.
Estimate: 35000-45000 USD