Sale: Triton VII, Lot: 834. Estimate $2000.  Closing Date: Monday, 12 January 2004.  Sold For $3000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

BRUTUS. Summer 42 BC. AR Denarius 3.73 gm). Military mint moving with Brutus and Cassius in the East; L Sestius, proquaestor. L SESTI. PRO Q, veiled and draped bust of Libertas right / Q CAEPIO BRVTVS PR. COS, tripod between axe and simpulum. Crawford 502/2; CRI 201; Sydenham 1290; CNR 28 (same obverse die); BMCRR East 41; RSC 11. Choice EF, sharp strike on a full flan. ($2000)

Based on the examples illustrated in Corpus Numorum Romanorum, the present specimen could claim the title of finest known denarius of this type. This normally crudely struck coinage was issued for an army under the command of L. Sestius Quirinalis, son of a Pompeian commander, who joined forces with the tyrannicides. He nonetheless gained the pardon of Octavian after the downfall of Brutus, and later became a consul in 23 BC. Sestius is further known historically as the dedicatee of one of Horace's odes (Carmina 1, 4).