Roma Numismatics Ltd
Auction XIV 21 Sep 2017
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Q. Servilius Caepio (M. Junius) Brutus Fourrée Denarius. Military mint travelling with Brutus in Asia Minor or Northern Greece, summer-autumn 42 BC. L. Plaetorius Cestianus, magistrate. Bare head of Brutus right; BRVT above, IMP to right, L•PLAET•CEST around / Pileus between two daggers pointing downward; EID•MAR below. Crawford 508/3; CRI 216; RSC 15; G&M 208, 1957 (same dies, also fourrée). 2.72g, 19mm, 1h.
Near Very Fine. Very Rare.
In the summer of 42 BC Brutus and Cassius marched through Macedonia and in October met Antony and Octavian in battle on the Via Egnatia just outside Philippi, and won the first engagement. Cassius, as his conservative coins show, remained true to the old republican cause, while Brutus followed the self-advertising line of Antony in the new age of unashamed political propaganda and struck coins displaying his own portrait. Brutus' estrangement from Cassius was effectively complete when this almost inanely assertive coin was struck displaying the pileus, or cap of liberty (symbol of the Dioscuri, saviours of Rome, and traditionally given to slaves who had received their freedom), between the daggers that executed Caesar. In an ironic twist of fate, Brutus committed suicide during the second battle at Philippi on 23 October 42 BC, using the dagger with which he assassinated Caesar.
Struck from dies engraved in a variety of styles, some of which are very faithful to the solid silver counterparts, the plated denarii of Brutus' EID MAR type have occasionally elicited speculation that they may have been produced thus on account of dwindling silver supplies in Brutus' camp. However, none of the plated denarii can be die matched with official, solid silver denarii. Indeed, the wide range of styles on these plated issues is indicative of their true nature as contemporary counterfeits. Whether produced by disaffected, bored or greedy Republican soldiers, or idealistically inclined civilian fraudsters, we shall never know. What is most interesting though is that a forthcoming study has identified approximately 82 surviving EID MAR denarii of Brutus, and at least another 16 plated examples. This disproportionately high ratio of plated coins to official issues is remarkable, and surely makes the EID MAR one of the most contemporaneously counterfeited coins in history.
Near Very Fine. Very Rare.
In the summer of 42 BC Brutus and Cassius marched through Macedonia and in October met Antony and Octavian in battle on the Via Egnatia just outside Philippi, and won the first engagement. Cassius, as his conservative coins show, remained true to the old republican cause, while Brutus followed the self-advertising line of Antony in the new age of unashamed political propaganda and struck coins displaying his own portrait. Brutus' estrangement from Cassius was effectively complete when this almost inanely assertive coin was struck displaying the pileus, or cap of liberty (symbol of the Dioscuri, saviours of Rome, and traditionally given to slaves who had received their freedom), between the daggers that executed Caesar. In an ironic twist of fate, Brutus committed suicide during the second battle at Philippi on 23 October 42 BC, using the dagger with which he assassinated Caesar.
Struck from dies engraved in a variety of styles, some of which are very faithful to the solid silver counterparts, the plated denarii of Brutus' EID MAR type have occasionally elicited speculation that they may have been produced thus on account of dwindling silver supplies in Brutus' camp. However, none of the plated denarii can be die matched with official, solid silver denarii. Indeed, the wide range of styles on these plated issues is indicative of their true nature as contemporary counterfeits. Whether produced by disaffected, bored or greedy Republican soldiers, or idealistically inclined civilian fraudsters, we shall never know. What is most interesting though is that a forthcoming study has identified approximately 82 surviving EID MAR denarii of Brutus, and at least another 16 plated examples. This disproportionately high ratio of plated coins to official issues is remarkable, and surely makes the EID MAR one of the most contemporaneously counterfeited coins in history.