| Numismatica Ars Classica > Auction 143 | Auction date: 7 May 2024 |
| Lot number: 421 Price realized: This lot is for sale in an upcoming auction - Bid on this lot  | Show similar lots on CoinArchives Find similar lots in upcoming auctions on  |
| Lot description: The Dioscuri Collection. The Roman Republic. L. Servius Rufus. Denarius 43, AR 17 mm, 3.72 g. L·SERVIVS – RVFVS Male head (Brutus) r. Rev. Dioscuri standing facing, both holding spears and with swords hanging from waist. Babelon Sulpicia 10. Sydenham 1082. Sear Imperators 324. Woytek, Arma et Nummi p. 559. RBW 1793. Crawford 515/2. Very rare. Lovely old cabinet tone and good very fine Ex Harlan J. Berk sale 189, 2014, 199. L. Servius Rufus was a colleague of M. Arrius Secundus among the tresviri monetales of 41 BC and like Secundus also produced a denarius coinage that also features a portrait seemingly intended to have multiple interpretations. The bearded portrait is often assumed to represent Servius Sulpicius Rufus, a distinguished Roman jurist taught by Cicero who died in 43 BC, two years before this coin was struck. At the same time, it looks suspiciously like a portrait of the living Marcus Brutus, potentially betraying L. Servius Rufus as a believer in the cause of the Liberators and a restored Republic. By encircling the portrait with his name, rather than that of Brutus, the moneyer has made it possible to argue that his intentions were not political, but that the similarity to other unambiguous images of the tyrannicide was entirely coincidental. The depiction of the two Dioscuri, Castor and Pollux, on the reverse relates the denarius to an aureus issue of L. Servius Rufus that features the heads of the Dioscuri on the obverse. In both cases these saviour gods refer to the legendary Battle of Lake Regillus (496 BC), at which the Romans were victorious over a great Latin army and the returning Etruscan king L. Tarquinius Superbus. This battle marked the final end to the threat of kings to the young Roman Republic-interestingly the same result desired by Brutus and his colleagues when they killed Caesar. During the Battle of Lake Regillus, the Dioscuri miraculously appeared as two horsemen on the field and guaranteed the Roman victory. In the aftermath of the battle, a temple was dedicated to the Dioscuri in the Roman Forum. Estimate: 5000 CHF |  |
