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Crawford 502/2, ROMAN IMPERATORIAL, Brutus, AR Denarius
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Rome. The Imperators.
Brutus, 44-42 BCE.
AR Denarius (3.76g; 17mm).
Military Mint, Spring-Summer 42 BCE.
Obverse: L·SESTI - PRO·Q; Veiled and draped bust of Libertas, facing right.
Reverse: Q·CAEPIO·BRVTVS·PRO·COS; Tripod with axe on left and simpulum on right.
References: Crawford 502/2; HCRI 201; Syd 1290; BMCRR East 41; Junia 37; Sestia 2.
Provenance: Ex Alan J. Harlan Collection [Triton XXII (9 Jan 2019), Lot 951]; Kunker 288 (13 Mar 2017) Lot 314; Theodor Prowe Collection [Hess (20 May 1912) Lot 933].
Marcus Junius Brutus was posthumously adopted by his maternal uncle, Quintus Servilius Caepio. Afterward, Brutus sometimes used the name Quintus Servilius Caepio Brutus, which both honored his uncle and advertised his maternal descent from Gaius Servilius Structus Ahala. Ahala was a Roman Republican hero who had killed someone with regal aspirations. In his early political career, Brutus issued coins with the portrait of Ahala on one side (see Crawford 433/2; http://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pos=-144687). Following the assassination of Caesar, Brutus resurrected his use of the name Quintus Servilius Caepio Brutus, as on this coin, again alluding to this Servilian connection in his family tree. Combined with the bust of Liberty on the obverse of this coin, the message is clear: that the assassins were liberators from monarchy in the old Republican tradition of their ancestors. The reverse shows the symbols of Brutus’ membership in the college of priests.
This example comes from the collection of Theodor Prowe of Moscow, one of the great collections of the early 20th century, which was auctioned in three separate 1912 sales by Bruder Egger (Greek) and Hess (Roman).
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