Rare Roman coin up for grabs
A memento of a crucial historical event could be yours. Chris Carter reports
On the Ides of March 44 BC (15 March), Julius Caesar came to a sticky end in Rome at the hands of the city’s senators. The great dictator succumbed to his, according to legend, foreseen fate, under a whirlwind of flashing knives, directed by Gaius Cassius Longinus and Caesar’s chief betrayer, Marcus Junius Brutus. The grisly assassination was carried out in the name of defending the republic. Not that Brutus was at all humble or contrite about his actions. Not long afterwards, he had coins minted commemorating the deed – two daggers and a Phrygian cap, traditionally given to freed slaves as a mark of their liberty, and the letters “EID MAR”. On the other side, where the ruler’s face usually goes, is Brutus’s rugged brow and strong jaw. The letters around his profile, “BRVT IMP”, spell out Brutus’s record as an acclaimed military victor.
Two years later, Brutus would take his own life following defeat in the civil wars that followed. But at the time of the issue of the coin, Brutus was basking in glory in Greece, to which he had fled. The Eid Mar coin was produced by a mobile military mint in the Roman province. Most of the coins were made in silver, but a rare few were made in gold. These aurei were probably intended as gifts for senior army officers. Roman historian Cassius Dio mentions them in the third century AD and three are known to still exist, says David
Sanderson in The Times. One is held in the collection of the German central bank; another, in mint condition, was sold at auction in October 2020 for £3.2m in London; and the third (pictured) is heading for auction in Zurich with Swiss ancient coin specialists Numismatica Ars Classica, at the Hotel Baur au Lac on 30 May.
Exceptional provenance
This particular example is yet more intriguing. It has been pierced at the top, so that it could be worn around the neck, leading to speculation that it was worn by an important supporter, maybe even one of Caesar’s assassins. It was first brought to the British Museum in 1932 by numismatist Oscar Ravel, and there it has been on loan for the past decade. It featured prominently in the museum’s exhibition Shakespeare: Staging the World for the London Olympics in 2012. “The Eid Mar coin commemorates one of the most important moments in Western history,” says Arturo Russo of Numismatica Ars Classica. “It is extremely rare to come across an ancient coin with such exceptional provenance, a point illustrated by its inclusion in the British Museum’s display for over a decade.” It is expected to fetch at least CHF1.8m (£1.5m).
“The Roman gold coin is expected to fetch at least £1.5m at auction in Zurich”