★ Hercules and the Lernaean Hydra ★

Maximianus. First reign, AD 286-305. AV Aureus (19mm, 5.55 g, 6h). Rome mint. Struck AD 293-294. MAXIMIA NVS P F AVG, laureate head right / HERCVLI DEBELLAT, Hercules standing right, holding a club overhead with his right hand, grasping one of the heads of the Lernaean Hydra with his left hand, and the Hydra has its main body wrapped around Hercules’ left leg; PROM. RIC VI –; Depeyrot 9/7; Calicó 4662 (same dies as illustration); Biaggi 1786 (same dies). A few light marks on obverse. EF. Well centered. Very rare variety with Hercules standing right, not left.

Ex Gemini XII (11 January 2015), lot 427.