217, Lot: 388. Estimate $100. Sold for $210. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Gordian III. AD 238-244. AR Denarius (21mm, 2.95 g, 7h). Rome mint. Struck AD 240. Laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust right / Hercules, naked, standing right, right hand behind back, holding lion skin and club set on rock. RIC IV 116; RSC 403. EF.

The model for this reverse type is a Greek sculpture copied by the Romans - the most famous copy being Glykon’s Farnese Hercules statue that was discovered in the excavations of the Baths of Caracalla in 1546. The statue depicts Hercules at rest after completing his Labors: he is shown standing with his club, draped in the skin of the Nemean Lion, set upright on a rock, propped under his left arm supporting the weight of his muscular frame, his head slightly nodding forward in a weary attitude, and he holds the apples of the Hesperides behind his back in his right hand.