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Hail Caesar: Killer's 'Ides of March' silver coin set to f


Viggen

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  • 5 weeks later...

The Immortal Ides of March Denarius

 

Here's the listing in the upcoming Heritage auction:

 

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Marcus Junius Brutus, Assassin of Caesar and Imperator (44-42 BC). AR denarius (3.72 gm). Mint moving with Brutus in northern Greece, L. Plaetorius Cestianus, magistrate, late summer-autumn 42 BC. BRVT IMP L. PLAET. CEST., bare head of Brutus right, wearing slight beard / EID MAR, pileus (cap of liberty) between two daggers. Crawford 508/3. Cahn 10b (this coin cited, four pieces known from this die pairing). CRI 216. RSC 15. RCV 1439 (this coin illustrated). Struck in exceptionally sound metal and beautifully toned. Superb portrait of the famed tyrannicide and among the finest specimens known. Nearly extremely fine / Extremely fine.

 

 

From the Rubicon Collection. Ex NAC 29 (11 May 2005). Ex Peter Weller Collection (Antiqua Fixed Price List VIII, Summer 2000). Ex Nelson Bunker Hunt Collection Part I (Sotheby's, June 1990), acquired by private treaty from the Sy Weintraub Collection. Ex Hall Park McCollough Collection (Stack's November 1967). Ex Woodward Collection (Naville-Ars Classica XV, 1930).

 

The EID MAR denarius, undoubtedly the most historically important of all ancient coins, is the only Roman coin to mention a specific date, the only Roman coin to openly celebrate an act of murder, and one of the very few specific coins mentioned by a classical author. In his account of the Roman civil wars of 49-31 BC, the Roman historian Dio Cassius writes: "Brutus stamped upon the coins which were being minted his own likeness and a cap and two daggers, indicating by this and by the inscription that he and Cassius had liberated the fatherland." Although the EID MAR type is justifiably famous (it was selected in a 2008 vote by top numismatists as Number 1 of the "100 Greatest Ancient Coins"), the EID MAR offered here has perhaps the most distinguished pedigree of all among the 75 or so surviving specimens, with auction records dating back to 1930. It has resided in the collections of Hall Park McCollough, Sy Weintraub, Nelson Bunker Hunt and actor-turned-history-professor Peter Weller. Numerous books, articles and TV productions have used this specimen to illustrate the type, including the most widely used handbook of Roman coins, David R. Sear's "Roman Coins and Their Values Vol. I" (no. 1439). Also, of all the known EID MAR denarii, this example inarguably has the best metal quality-important since most EID MARs were apparently struck in slightly base silver and survive in a highly porous state that is subject to further deterioration, cracking and / or delamination. The event so celebrated, of course, is the assassination of Julius Caesar on the Ides of March (March 15), 44 BC. The man depicted on the obverse, Marcus Junius Brutus, was one of the ringleaders of the assassination plot, despite being the son of Caesar's longtime mistress, Servilia. In the centuries since, he has been both hailed as a champion of liberty and damned as the vilest of traitors. Brutus was born in about 85 BC, the product of two of Rome's most distinguished families, the Junii, represented by his father M. Junius Brutus the elder, and the Servili, exemplified by his mother Servilia. The themes of Republican liberty and the defeat of tyrants ran strong in Brutus' bloodlines. One of his distant ancestors, L. Junius Brutus, expelled the last Tarquin king of Rome and went on to become the Republic's first chief magistrate, or Consul; another ancestor, Servius Ahala, murdered the tyrant Spurius Maelius, who had threatened to overthrow the Republic and install himself as king. His father had resisted the tyranny of the Dictator Sulla and was murdered on the orders of his henchman, Pompey the Great, during the bloody Proscriptions of 78-77 BC. After entering public life in 58 BC, Brutus became a prot

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Agreed. We were already stung with the Crosby Garrett Cavalry Helmet. This is happening too often. When I win the Euromillions lottery, this is the sort of thing I shall be doing with all that excess cash.

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Wow, The "Crosby Garrett Calvary Helmet."

Made me do a Wikipedia search: :lol:

 

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crosby_Garrett_Helmet

 

I love the Griffin on top of the hat, but for some reason, it just doesn't seem macho enough for a Roman calvary officer.

 

 

guy also known as gaius

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  • 4 weeks later...

Update:

 

The coin sold for $546,250 on September 7, 2011 at the 2011 September Long Beach Signature World & Ancient Coins Auction #3015

 

There were four bidders:

 

 

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guy also known as gaius

Edited by guy
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