On March 15, 2010 and right at the Ides of March, the British Museum exhibited a new coin: The aureus featuring the portrait of Marcus Iunius Brutus, which shows the pileus between two daggers and the inscription EID MAR on the reverse.
March 25, 2010 – In 1932, a specimen of the famous emission of aurei struck by the assassin of Caesar Marcus Iunius Brutus was shown to the curators of the British Museum. They could not afford to buy the piece, although the coin was pierced and had a big scratch on the reverse. In fact, this coin was a unique testimony of history. Today we know a second specimen, which was bought by the Deutsche Bundesbank.
In 2004 London once again had not the money to buy the coin. The auction house Numismatica Ars Classica sold pieces from the Biaggi collection and the same pierced aureus was knocked down at 120.000 Swiss Franks. Only four years later the piece was offered as part of the Barry Feinstein collection once again at Numismatica Ars Classica. Its new owner paid 230.000 Franks for it.
Now, he places his precious coin at the disposal of the public. The British Museum will display the coin as permanent loan. Visitors could see the coin for the first time on the 2.054th anniversary of Caesar’s assassination.
More about the new object at the BM at http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2010/mar/14/julius-caesar-coin-british-museum
More about the historical background (only available in German): http://www.bundesbank.de/download/bibliothek/publikationen/2009_boreas.pdf