One of those ideas that seems custom made for a coin series, the Twelve Labours of Hercules is a rousing tale of daring, adventure and slaughter that typifies the ancient world at its most imaginative. Hercules himself has been a character that many leaders throughout history have claimed lineage to, in the hopes that they’ll seem a bit more than the average citizen. Unfortunately for them, the stories encompass quests that by their very nature led to the phrase Herculean task to describe a massive undertaking, so living up to the legend has eluded them.

Today sees the third of the twelve-coin series make an appearance, and it carries a style that doesn’t stray from the one that has served it so well with the first two coins. The Ceryneian Hind was alleged to be so fast that it could outrun an arrow. With Hercules having already proven his ability to render a fearsome beast deceased, Eurystheus tried to be a smartass and have Hercules capture the rapid animal instead. He did so of course, but let it go afterwards to appease the goddess Artemis.

The coin depicts the Greek hero wrestling the Hind to the ground and as you would expect, there’ a ton of high-relief detail in this one and hardly a flat space on the whole of the reverse face. Antique-finished and rimless, it falls to the gilded antlers of the hind to draw the eye into the action. The obverse remains the common one that does a great job of laying out the series. Each issue has the specific ‘cameo’ gilded to match the reverse face. It’s a neat way to follow the progress of the series.

A wooden box in a themed sleeve, with an enclosed Certificate of Authenticity, make up the presentation. The mintage of this one is capped at 500 pieces again, and it should ship around April time. The series continues to be exclusively distributed by two dealers, Coin Shoppe in Canada and Magikos Coins in Poland. It will be sold at a whole raft of the usual dealers from there. An other fine release in a series that should grow into something special when complete. We’ve added it to our huge roundup of the Mint of Poland mythology series.