Watch List notes:

Imperatorial Issues

C. Cassius Longinus with Lentulus Spinther. Aureus, mint moving with Cassius (probably Smyrna) 43-42, AV 8.21 g. C·CASSI·IMP – LEIBERTAS Diademed bust of Libertas r., wearing necklace. Rev. LENTVLVS / SPINT Sacrificial vase and lituus. Babelon Cassia 15. C 3. Bahrfeldt 58. Sydenham 1306. Sear Imperators 220. RBW –. Crawford 500/2. Calicó 65.
Very rare and in exceptional condition for this difficult issue.
Well-centred on a full flan and extremely fine

Ex Hess-Leu 1, 1971, 215; NAC 24, European Nobleman, 2002, and NAC 41, 2007, 28 sales.

The biographer Plutarch held Cassius in low regard, describing him as a man who was not well liked, and who ruled his soldiers through fear. He says: "...Cassius was known to be a man of violent and uncontrolled passions, whose craving for money had often tempted him to stray from the path of justice, and it therefore seemed natural that his motive for fighting...was not to win liberty for his fellow-countrymen, but to secure some great place for himself". Nonetheless, from the earliest days of his career, Cassius demonstrated remarkable leadership quality, and he proved to be especially courageous under fire. His bold leadership in the murder of his long-time benefactor Julius Caesar thrust him into a limelight that in hindsight he might have avoided had he known the consequences. Cassius produced a good variety of coin types, none of which bear his portrait. This is unfortunate since there do not seem to be any securely identified portraits of this brilliant, sarcastic and ill-tempered commander in any other form. This aureus was struck c.43-42 B.C., perhaps about the time Brutus and Cassius met at Smyrna in 42 B.C., and not long before Cassius took his own life at Philippi. Based on Cassius' activities in the two years leading to Philippi, it may well have been struck using the proceeds of his lucrative raids in Syria and on the island of Rhodes.