Lot 4912

Description

M. Junius Brutus, (c.54 B.C.), silver denarius, Rome mint, (3.59 g), obv. head of Liberty to right, LIBERTAS behind, rev. The consul L. Junius Brutus walking to left, between two lictors preceded by an accensus, BRVTVS in exergue, (S.397, Cr.433/1, Syd.906, Junia 31). Slightly off centre with some surface pitting and bankers marks, otherwise fine and rare.

The piece was struck by Brutus, one of the assassins of Julius Caesar, when, as a young man, he was a moneyer. The issue refers to his ancestry and recalls the expulsion of the Tarquins from Rome in 509 B.C. by L. Junius Brutus who was consul in that year. By a process of adoption he is known as Q. Servilius Caepio Brutus, a consul designate in 41 B.C.