350, Lot: 545. Estimate $100. Sold for $130. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Philip II. As Caesar, AD 244-247. Base ‘Antoninianus’ (22mm, 4.44 g, 12h). Contemporary imitation. Radiate, draped, and cuirassed bust right / The “Farnese” Hercules standing right, resting hand on hip and placing other hand on club set on rock; lion skin beside club. Cf. RIC IV 95 and RSC 404 (for prototype of the reverse, though of Gordian III). VF, rough green surfaces. Rare and interesting.

This reverse type copies a famed Greek bronze sculpture dating to the 4th century BC, generally thought to be the work of the artist Lysippus. It depicts a weary Hercules after completing his Labors: he is shown leaning on his club, draped with the skin of the Nemean Lion and set upright on a rock, and he holds the Apples of the Hesperides behind his back in his right hand. Like many other masterpieces of Greek art, Lysippus’ sculpture was widely copied by the Romans. The most famous copy of this particular work is the marble Farnese Hercules, discovered in the excavations of the Baths of Caracalla in 1546. It stood for over 200 years in the Palazzo Farnese in Rome, from whence it gained its name, and was moved to Naples in 1787, where it is now displayed in the Museo Archeologico Nazionale.