Currency during the Roman Republic were made by officials called magistrates. Compared to other areas in the Mediterranean, the Roman Republic was somewhat late in using coins as their form of currency. Places like Greece and Asia had been using coins before Rome. The coins that were used in the Roman Republic were influenced by the limited resources in Italy. There was a large amount of bronze found by the metalworkers of the Etruscans, while finding silver was in short supply. The early coinage of the Roman Republic consisted of very few silver coins used for trading with Greek colonies in southern Italy, as well as large bronze coins in central Italy.
This gold coin, called the "Eid Mar" features the face of Marcus Junius Brutus, who used to be friends with Julius Caesar but later killed him with other Roman senators on March 15, 44 B.C. Many historians say that this coin was made in gold and silver to celebrate Caesar's downfall and to pay his soldiers during the war that happened afterwards. Today, these coins can be worth up to $500,000 to 5 million dollars!
