63, Lot: 48. Estimate $200. Sold for $282. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

M. Junius Brutus. 54 BC. AR Denarius (18mm, 3.68 gm). Bare head of L. Junius Brutus right / Bare head of C. Servilius Ahala right. Crawford 433/2; Sydenham 907; Junia 30. Good VF, scratches reverse.

The types on this example, struck while Brutus was a moneyer, reflect the future assassin's strong republican leanings. His ancestral namesake was instrumental in the expulsion of the last kings, the Tarquins, from Rome and the foundation of the Republic; Ahala, amaternal ancestor of Brutus, in 439 BC slew Sp. Maelius, a man who had supposedly been plotting against the Republic.