Watch List notes:

M. Junius Brutus. AR Denarius, 54 BC. Obv. BRVTVS Head of L. Junius Brutus the Ancient right. Rev. AHALA. Head of C. Servilius Ahala right. Cr. 433/2; B. 30. AR. 3.51 g. 17.00 mm. Scarce. A choice example of this fascinating issue. Lovely bright black old cabinet tone. Very slightly bent flan, beside the border at three o'clock of obverse, otherwise. about EF. Denarius struck in 54 BC by Caepio Brutus, better known as M. Junius Brutus, one of the leaders in the conspiracy that assassinated Julius Caesar in 44 BC. The types are records of his ancestry. Lucius Junius Brutus was a semilegendary figure, held to have ousted the despotic Etruscan king Lucius Tarquinius Superbus from Rome in 509 BC and then to have founded the Roman Republic. Gaius Servilius Ahala was celebrated in Roman tradition as a hero who freed his country from the threat of tyranny by killing Sp. Maelius in 439 BC.