Brutus. Summer 42 BC. AR Denarius (16mm, 3.56 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 PRO COS, tripod; axe to left, simpulum to right. Crawford 502/2; CRI 201; Sydenham 1290; CNR 30 (same obverse die) and 30/4 (same reverse die); RSC 11. Superb EF, sharp strike on a full flan, hairline flan crack.
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).
