Watch List notes:

Switzerland. Judgment of Brutus. ND (1740s). Æ medal (31 mm, 13.02 g, 12 h). Jean Dassier & Sons. BRUTUS. abov, J. DASSIER ET FILS.below, bare head of Brutus right / PLUS CITOYEN / QUE PERE · / A · R · 245 · in three lines in exergue, Lucius Junius Brutus seated at right, turning his head away as he orders the beheadings of his sons. Eisler 6b. Brown patina, small spot on the second U in Brutus, small scratch in reverse field. Choice extremely fine.

The reverse illustrates the stoic determination and nature of Rome's earliest consul and legendary founder of the republic, L. Junius Brutus. Soon after the overthrow of Rome's seventh and last king, Tarquinius Superbus, and the expulsion of the royal family from Rome, loyalists attempted to reestablish the monarchy. Two of Brutus' sons were involved in the conspiracy. The consuls - i.e., Brutus himself along his colleague, Lucius Tarquinius Collatinus - decided that the punishment for the conspirators would be death. The reverse of this Dassier medal shows the father seated on the right, stoically attending the execution of his own sons. The French legend below translates to ""More a citizen than a father,"" and includes the date 245 since the founding of the city - 509/8 B.C., the traditional date of the founding of the Roman Republic.