A rare Roman coin featuring Brutus, the assassin of Julius Caesar, was sold for €1.98 million at a Geneva auction on Monday, as reported by the auction house Numismatica Genevensis, according to AFP.
The coin, which generated intense bidding from eight online participants, was purchased by a European collector for over 1.83 million Swiss francs (around $2.09 million).
Initially, the coin had been priced at over €800,000.
Weighing 8 grams and roughly the size of a euro, the coin is considered “a piece of history” by Frank Baldacci, director of Numismatica Genevensis, symbolizing the final years of the Roman Republic.
Minted in 43-42 BC by Brutus and his supporters after Julius Caesar’s assassination in 44 BC, the obverse shows a profile of Brutus encircled by a laurel wreath, while the reverse displays military symbols commemorating his victories.
Baldacci highlighted that the wreath symbolized Brutus’s ambition to present himself as an emperor, and the coin functioned as propaganda for his cause.
This particular coin is one of only 17 known to exist. It resurfaced in the 1950s, was listed in a private collector’s catalog, and was sold at a 2006 Zurich auction for 360,000 Swiss francs to another private collector.