ROMAN REPUBLICAN. Q. Servilius Caepio (M. Junius) Brutus. 54 B.C. AR denarius. 3.7 gm. 18 mm. Rome mint. Bare head of L. Junius Brutus right; BRVTVS behind / Bare head of Caius Servilius Ahala right; AHALA behind. Crawford 433/2. Sydenham 907. RSC Junia 30. Near Extremely Fine; two excellent portraits, well centered and beautifully toned with hints of blue iridescence. Choice coin.

From an old European collection.

Marcus Junius Brutus as moneyer in 54 BC, ten years before the assassination of Julius Caesar, issued this type to celebrate his ancestors, Lucius Junius Brutus who in 509 BC conspired to overthrow Rome's last king, Tarquin the Proud. And Gaius Servilius Ahala, who in 439 BC used a dagger hidden in his toga to slay Spurius Maelius, a nobleman who had plotted to make himself king. On the Ides of March in 44 BC, Brutus and his fellow senators slayed the tyrant Julius Caesar with daggers concealed in their togas.