![]() “The Eid Mar coin commemorates one of the most important moments in Western history: the assassination of the dictator Julius Caesar,” says Russo in an emailed auction house statement. The front side features a heroic portrait of Brutus, who likely had the coins made in a mobile military mint after he had fled to Greece. Following the assassination, the infamous Roman politician Marcus Junius Brutus is said to have minted the coin to mark his key role in the murder and to celebrate Rome’s freedom from tyranny. On the March 15, 44 B.C.E., a group of senators stabbed to death the dictator Julius Caesar on the floor of the Roman Senate. “It’s priceless, but it still has a price tag,” says Arturo Russo, managing director of the auction house Numismatica Ars Classic, per Bloomberg. Experts estimate that the historical coin could sell for as much as $2 million when it goes on the chopping block in Zurich, reports Marina Stanley for Bloomberg. That coin - which was also graded by NGC - fetched just over $10 million at an auction in 2013.Ĭredits: Images courtesy of Numismatic Guaranty Corporation.A rare golden coin, one of just three known specimens in the world, is likely to tempt buyers with deep pockets at auction later this spring. While the ”Ides of March” gold coin set a new auction record for an ancient coin, the world record for any coin ever sold at auction remains with the 1794 United States “Flowing Hair Dollar,” the first federally issued coin. “The coin is only about the size of modern United States five-cent and United Kingdom five-pence denomination coins, but it’s an historic treasure worth far more than its weight in gold.” “There were rumors of a third example, and NGC authenticators were excited when this coin was submitted at our London office and sent for evaluation at our headquarters in Sarasota,” said Salzberg. Of the other two, one is in the British Museum on loan from a private collector and the other is in the Deutsche Bundesbank collection. While nearly 100 Ides of March silver coins are known to still exist, this is only the third example known to be struck in gold. This brutal and bloody assassination had been prompted by the well-founded belief among the Senate that Caesar intended to make himself king.” Roma Numismatics explained that the coin represents a “naked and shameless celebration of the murder of Julius Caesar two years earlier, in 44 BC. The front of the coin features a portrait of Marcus Junius Brutus, one of Caesar’s assassins, and the other side dramatically depicts two daggers and the marking “EID MAR.” The initials represent the Latin abbreviation for the Ides of March, which corresponds to March 15 on the calendar and is the date Caesar was assassinated. “It was made in 42 BC, two years after the famous assassination, and is one of the most important and valuable coins of the ancient world,” explained Salzberg. According to the auction house, this previously unrecorded coin was closely held in a private European collection for many years. The name of the winning bidder was not revealed by Roma Numismatics Limited. ![]() Many of us believed it would sell for millions, and it did.” ![]() “It’s a masterpiece of artistry and rarity, still in mint condition after 2,000 years, and only the third known example made in gold. ![]() ![]() “I’m not surprised it set a world record as the most valuable ancient coin ever sold,” said Salzberg. The impressive performance of the nickel-sized coin came as no surprise to Mark Salzberg, Chairman of Sarasota, FL-based Numismatic Guaranty Corporation, the company whose experts in the U.S. The selling price, which includes a buyer’s premium, was more than six times the pre-auction estimate of $650,000. An ultra-rare “Ides of March” gold coin commemorating the assassination of Roman dictator Julius Caesar in 44 BC broke an auction record Thursday when it fetched $4.2 million at London-based Roma Numismatics Limited. ![]()
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