Sale: CNG 66, Lot: 1324. Estimate $2000.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 19 May 2004.  Sold For $1650. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

BRUTUS. Summer 42 BC. AR Denarius 3.48 gm). Military mint moving with Brutus and Cassius in the East; L Sestius, proquaestor. Veiled and draped bust of Libertas right / Tripod between axe and simpulum. Crawford 502/2; CRI 201; Sydenham 1290; CNR 27/2 (same obverse die); RSC 11. Choice EF, sharp strike on a full flan. ($2000)

This 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).