Roma Numismatics Ltd
Auction XVI 26 Sep 2018
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Q. Servilius Caepio (M. Junius) Brutus Imitative AR Denarius. Uncertain mint, after summer 42 BC (possibly AD 68/9, or later). Bare head of Brutus right; BRVT above, IMP to right, L•PLAET•CEST around / Pileus between two daggers pointing downward; EID•MAR below. Campana, Eidibus Martiis, U1 (this coin); for prototype, cf. Crawford 508/3, CRI 216, and RSC 15. 3.62g, 18mm, 5h.
Near Very Fine. Extremely Rare.
This coin published in A. Campana, Eidibus Martiis (forthcoming);
From a private British collection.
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.
An iconic type from its very inception, the EID MAR type of Brutus was copied and counterfeited probably almost immediately. At least 16 plated contemporary counterfeits are known to have survived - a disproportionately high ratio of plated coins to official issues, surely making the EID MAR one of the most contemporaneously counterfeited coins in history. Struck from dies engraved in a variety of styles, some of which are very faithful to the solid silver counterparts, those 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.
Of unofficial but solid silver copies there are considerably fewer specimens; it has been suggested by Italo Vecchi that the present coin "is an ancient strike, crystalized and the product of a near contemporary unofficial mint, possibly during the Civil Wars of AD 68-69 in Gaul or Spain", as its crude style bears some resemblance to the issues produced at that time which also feature the two daggers and pileus on the reverse, albeit with the legend P R RESTITVTA replacing EID MAR - however, the possibility of a later renaissance origin cannot be fully excluded.
Near Very Fine. Extremely Rare.
This coin published in A. Campana, Eidibus Martiis (forthcoming);
From a private British collection.
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.
An iconic type from its very inception, the EID MAR type of Brutus was copied and counterfeited probably almost immediately. At least 16 plated contemporary counterfeits are known to have survived - a disproportionately high ratio of plated coins to official issues, surely making the EID MAR one of the most contemporaneously counterfeited coins in history. Struck from dies engraved in a variety of styles, some of which are very faithful to the solid silver counterparts, those 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.
Of unofficial but solid silver copies there are considerably fewer specimens; it has been suggested by Italo Vecchi that the present coin "is an ancient strike, crystalized and the product of a near contemporary unofficial mint, possibly during the Civil Wars of AD 68-69 in Gaul or Spain", as its crude style bears some resemblance to the issues produced at that time which also feature the two daggers and pileus on the reverse, albeit with the legend P R RESTITVTA replacing EID MAR - however, the possibility of a later renaissance origin cannot be fully excluded.