Triton XVI, Lot: 452. Estimate $3000. Sold for $3000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

IONIA, Ephesos. Symmachy coinage. Circa 405/4 BC. AR Tridrachm (21mm, 10.43 g, 11h). The Herakliskos Drakonopnigon: the Infant Herakles crouching right, strangling a serpent coiled around each arm; Σ-Y-[N] around / Bee with straight wings; E-Φ flanking head, [Π]-E across field below. Hecatomnus p. 101, 8b (O2/R6 – this coin, illustrated); SNG Kayhan 144 (same obv. die); SNG von Aulock 7821 = SNG Lockett 2808 = Weber 5836 (same obv. die); SNG Copenhagen –; BMC 25; Gulbenkian 730 = Weber 5835. VF, toned, some porosity and find patina. Very rare.

From the RAJ Collection. Ex Hecatomnus Hoard (CH V, 17; CH VIII, 96; and CH IX, 387).

Herakles was the son of Zeus and Alkmene. This union and the child it produced enraged Zeus’ wife, Hera, who tried to kill Herakles. Shortly after his birth, she sent two serpents one night to strangle the infant as he lay sleeping in his crib. The following morning, the nurse discovered Herakles playing with their lifeless bodies: during the night he had strangled one in each hand. This early example of his renowned strength earned him the name Herakliskos Drakonopnigon, or “the serpent-slaying infant Herakles.”