Prophetic Connection

Triton XXII, Lot: 890. Estimate $1500. Sold for $2250. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Q. Servilius Caepio (M. Junius) Brutus. 54 BC. AR Denarius (17mm, 4.37 g, 6h). Rome mint. Bare head of L. Junius Brutus right; BRVTV[S] downward to left / Bare head of C. Servilius Ahala right; AHALA downward to left. Crawford 433/2; Sydenham 907; Junia 30; BMCRR Rome 3864-7; RBW 1543. Choice EF, attractive golden tone, underlying luster.

From the Alan J. Harlan Collection. Ex Numismatica Ars Classica 23 (19 March 2002), lot 1383.

This early coin of Marcus Junius Brutus, struck during his term as moneyer in 54 BC, refers to his illustrious ancestry, which included L. Junius Brutus, one of the legendary first consuls of the nascent Roman Republic, and C. Servilius Ahala, who slew the prospective tyrant Spurius Maelius. Celebrating his connection to the tyrannicide Ahala proved eerily prophetic 10 years later, when, because of his name and reputation for integrity, Brutus was recruited by conspirators against Julius Caesar and became the figurehead leader of the assassins.