M JUNIUS BRUTUS SILVER DENARIUS – “TYRANT SLAYER” ISSUE OF CAESAR’S MURDERER EX KNOBLOCH COLLECTION – XF NGC GRADED ROMAN IMPERATORIAL COIN (Inv. 18842)

$2,350.00

18842. ROMAN IMPERATORIAL. M. JUNIUS BRUTUS, d. 42 BC.
Silver Denarius, 3.46 g, 18 mm. Issue of Rome, struck by Brutus while he served as moneyer, 54 BC.
Obv. BRVTVS, head of L. Junius Brutus right. Rev. AHALA, head of C. Servilius Ahala right.
Crawford 433/2; Sydenham 907.
Ex Southern Collector; ex Jonathan P. Rosen Collection, CNG 108, 5/16/2018, lot 512 = Roma IX, 3/22/2015, lot 546 = Tradart 11/18/1993, lot 179 = The Numismatic Auction 2, 2/12/1983, lot 251 = Frederick Knobloch Collection, Stack’s 5/3/1978, lot 251.
NGC graded XF, Strike 5/5, Surface 2/5, “edge cut, marks,” old cabinet toning.

A remarkably historic coin, this is part of an emission struck by the famous Brutus, Caesar’s assassin, a decade earlier when he served as moneyer. The portraits on the coin make reference to his family’s proud history of service to the Republic, illustrating his ancestors, L. Junius Brutus and C. Servilius Ahala. L. Junius Brutus was the man who banished the Tarquin kings and established the Republic while Ahala, a descendant on his mother’s side, was responsible for killing another politician who aspired to kingship. The coin, with its overwhelming pro–Republican sentiment, anticipates M. Junius Brutus’ role in the murder of Caesar.