CNG 112, Lot: 560. Estimate $1500. Sold for $2400. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

The Republicans. Brutus. Early 42 BC. AR Denarius (18mm, 3.45 g, 12h). Military mint, probably at Smyrna; P. Cornelius Lentulus Spinther, legatus. Emblems of the pontificate: securis, simpulum, and secespita; BRVTVS below / Capis and lituus; LENTVLVS/SPINT in two lines below. Crawford 500/7; CRI 198; Sydenham 1310; RSC 6; RBW 1766. Lightly toned, some light smoothing in the fields. EF.

From the Matthew Curtis Collection.

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.