The New York Sale
Auction 54 11 Jan 2022
View prices realized
► Sale information
Find similar lots
Maximianus. Gold Aureus (5.55 g), first reign, AD 286-305. Rome, AD 293-294. MAXIMIA-NVS P F AVG, laureate head of Maximianus right. Reverse: HERCVLI DEBELLAT, Hercules standing right, lifting club to strike and one of the heads of the Lernaean Hydra which he grasps; the Hydra's body wrapped around Hercules' leg; PROM. RIC -; Depeyrot 9/7; Calicó 4662 (same dies as illus.). Perfectly struck and perfectly centered, and with a honey-gold hue. Needle sharp! Mint State. Estimated Value $20,000 - UP
The reverse type on this splendid aureus of Maximianus depicts the hero Hercules killing the nine-headed Lernaean Hydra, the second labor with which he was tasked by King Eurystheus. The victory over the monster alludes to Constantius I's defeat of the usurper Carausius, thus securing the western provinces for Maximianus, and is a particularly appropriate type as Hercules was the patron deity of the ruling house of Maximianus and Constantius.
Ex Triton XXIII (14 January 2020), 852; NAC 111 (24 September 2018), 215; Gemini XII (11 January 2015), 427.
The reverse type on this splendid aureus of Maximianus depicts the hero Hercules killing the nine-headed Lernaean Hydra, the second labor with which he was tasked by King Eurystheus. The victory over the monster alludes to Constantius I's defeat of the usurper Carausius, thus securing the western provinces for Maximianus, and is a particularly appropriate type as Hercules was the patron deity of the ruling house of Maximianus and Constantius.
Ex Triton XXIII (14 January 2020), 852; NAC 111 (24 September 2018), 215; Gemini XII (11 January 2015), 427.