Hercules’ Second Labor – The Lernaean Hydra

Triton XVI, Lot: 702. Estimate $1000. Sold for $4000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

PHRYGIA, Amorium. Caracalla. AD 198-217. Æ (37mm, 21.01 g, 6h). Struck AD 215-217. AVT • K • M • AVP • CЄOV (HP) ANTΩNINOC AV, laureate and cuirassed bust right / AMOPIANΩN, Hercules standing left with right foot on rock outcropping, holding club in right hand poised to strike the Lernaean Hydra, part of which is wrapped around his right leg. Voegtli type 2 (unlisted for this city); Stoll 19 (this coin); otherwise unpublished. VF, olive and dark brown patina, hairline flan crack. Extremely rare.

Ex Marcel Burstein Collection (not in the Peus sale; includes his envelope); Giessener Münzhandlung 64 (11 October 1993), lot 563.