288, Lot: 444. Estimate $100. Sold for $80. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Commodus. AD 177-192. Æ As (24mm, 7.59 g, 5h). Rome mint. Struck AD 192. Head right, wearing lion skin headdress / Legend divided by club within laurel wreath. RIC III 644. Near VF, green patina, roughness.

From the Greenpoint Collection. Ex Coin Galleries (9 November 1994), lot 435 (Part of).

Over the later part of Commodus’ reign, numerous events suggest the emperor was becoming mentally ill. A number of sources tell us that Commodus thought of himself as the reincarnation of Hercules. It is said that in public spectacles he would dress in the manner of Hercules and bludgeon prisoners to death with a club.