A Tarentine pun

I'm not a collector of larger Greek silver coins but I do have one stater of Tarentum in Calabria, southern Italy. I acquired it because of the punning image of the lion mark on one side and the magistrate's name, Leon, on the other.

The only reference I have is Evans' 1888 Numismatic Chronicle paper on the Horsemen of Tarentum that places the coin in his eighth series, c.272-235 BC (series VIII, type B, coin 3). The period is one of an alliance with Rome that apparently resulted in a large volume of coins being produced. As Evans comments,

“The abundance of these late types is a speaking proof that the enforced alliance with Rome had not, at least after the first excesses of the occupation, sensibly impaired the material prosperity of the Tarentines. Their condition was in all probability more flourishing than it had been in the time of what Livy describes as their "miserable servitude" under Pyrrhus' governor. The types and symbols of some of the didrachms. of this Period supply us, indeed, with a remarkable piece of evidence tending to prove that the Tarentine commerce was still in a position to dominate some of the South Italian markets.”

A unique denarius of Maximianus I

Maximianus, denarius, Hercules at rest, Ticinum mint, c.290 AD, the anticipated defeat of Carausius (?), RIC -

I have in my trays a seemingly unique denarius of Maximianus I from the mint of Ticinum. Although this coin is unmarked on the reverse another unique denarius, struck from the same obverse die, but with a different reverse type, carries the mark SMT in the exergue.

The obverse features a laureate, left facing bust of Maximianus, wearing imperial mantle and holding an eagle-tipped sceptre. The legend is MAXIMIANVS AVG CONS III, the third consulship being celebrated in AD 290.

The reverse combines the legend HERCVLI CONSERVATORI with a representation of Hercules, leaning on his club, draped in the skin of the Nemean lion and with his right arm placed behind his back. The image is interpreted as Hercules at rest having completed his labours.

Maximianus, antoninianus, Hercules at rest, Lugdunum mint, Bastien's 2nd issue, c. spring-summer 286 AD, the completion of the campaign against the Bagaudae(?), RIC 437

There are parallels in the coinage struck for Maximianus at Lugdunum in the early part of his reign, through to Bastien’s 5th issue, terminating late 289. During this time the Dyarchy are closely associated with Jupiter (Diocletianus) and Hercules (Maximianus) on the coinage and in the contemporary written record. After this date the coin types no longer emphasize this allusion.

Maximianus, antoninianus, Hercules wrestling the Nemean lion, Lugdunum mint, Bastien's 5th issue, c. late 287 to late 289 AD, the ongoing campaign against Carausius(?), RIC 454

The move away from the Hercules reverses for Maximianus is probably linked to the defeat of Maximianus by the forces of Carausius in the military campaign that is anticipated in the panegyric delivered to Maximianus on the occasion of the celebration of the foundation of Rome on 21 April 289.