Sale: CNG 70, Lot: 712. Estimate $1500.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 21 September 2005.  Sold For $1400. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

BRUTUS. 42 BC. AR Denarius (3.54 g, 12h). 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; RSC 11. Choice EF. An exceptional example. ($1500)

This coinage was issued for an army under the command of L. Sestius Quirinalis, son of a Pompeian commander, who joined forces with the tyrannicides. After the downfall of Brutus, Sestius was pardoned by Octavian and later became a consul (23 BC). Sestius is also known as the dedicatee of one of Horace's odes (Carmina 1.4). Sestius and Horace both served under Brutus (Horace as a tribunus militum), and it may be during this service together that their friendship developed.