Pre-Long Beach Auction #80

Brutus. Silver Denarius (3.76 g), 42 BC. Military mint traveling with Brutus and Cassius in western Asia Minor or northern Greece. L. Plaetorius Cestianus, moneyer. L PLAET CEST behind, laureate, veiled and draped female bust right, her head surmounted by polos. Reverse BRVT IMP, sacrificial axe and simpulum (or culullis). Crawford 508/2; HCRI 214; Sydenham 1300; RSC 2. Very Rare. Boldly struck in high relief and fine style. A lovely example with attractive old cabinet toning. Extremely Fine.

The identification of the female depicted on the obverse is uncertain. Older catalogues refer to her as Ceres, the Roman goddess of agriculture, while Crawford suggests Diana, but the type is ambiguous. Like the earlier issue in the name of Brutus struck by Cassius' legate, P. Lentulus Spinther, on the reverse we see again Brutus' priestly emblems of the pontificate, suggesting the divine right of the liberators' cause. The issue was struck immediately preceding the fateful battle of Philippi, and was perhaps Brutus' penultimate issue, the last of course being the renowned Eid Mar type which also appears in this sale.
Estimated Value $25,000 - 30,000.
Ex NAC 70 (16 May 2013), 184; Virgil M. Brand Collection, pt. 3 (Sotheby's, 9 June 1983), 238; Ernst Herzfelder Collection (Brüder Egger XLIII, 14 April 1913), 55.