Sale: Triton XI, Lot: 613. Estimate $1500.  Closing Date: Monday, 7 January 2008.  Sold For $3000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Brutus. 42 BC. AR Denarius (3.75 g, 11h). Military mint, probably at Smyrna. P. Cornelius Lentulus Spinther, moneyer. BRVTVS below, sacrificial axe, simpulum, and knife / LENTVLVS/SPINT in two lines below, capis (one-handled jug) and lituus. Crawford 500/7; CRI 198; Sydenham 1310; Kestner 3770; BMCRR East 80-81; RSC 6. Good VF, gold-gray toning, minor marks and an old edge test cut beneath toning, traces of deposits. Excellent silver quality.

The obverse depicts the symbols of the college of pontifices to which Brutus belonged, while the reverse bears the symbols of the priestly college to which P. Cornelius Lentulus Spinther was elected in 57 BC, namely, the augurate.