Rare 2,000-year-old Roman gold coin commemorating the assassination of Julius Caesar is expected to fetch 'up to £5 MILLION' at auction in London

 A rare gold coin which commemorates the assassination of the Roman general Julius Caesar is expected to auction for 'up to £5 million' this month, experts have said.

Over two millennia old, the token is one of three of the same design known to have been cast in gold, making it the 'holy grail' for ancient coin collectors, experts said.

 Held until now in a private collection in Europe, the mint-condition gold coin will be sold at auction by London-based Roma Numismatics on October 29, 2020.  

Although the coin has been given a conservative pre-sale estimate of £500,000, it is expected to sell for considerably higher come the auction.. 

In fact, Numismatic Guaranty Corporation expert Barry Murphy has suggested it could reach the heights of £3–5 million — and break previous records. 

The minting of the coin has been described as a 'naked and shameless celebration' of Caesar's murder two years previously in 44 BC.

The assassination was prompted by concern among the Roman senate that Caesar — having recently been named 'dictator in perpetuity' — would name himself king.  

Fear of this tyranny fostered a conspiracy of 60 senators who ended up stabbing the statesman 23 times, according to history's first recorded autopsy.

Caesar had, however, been popular with the Roman lower and middle classes — and the uproar in the wake of his assassination set in motion the fall of the Republic. 

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A rare gold coin which commemorates the assassination of the Roman general Julius Caesar is expected to auction for 'over £1.5 million' this month

The coin 'was made in 42 BC, two years after the famous assassination,' Mark Salzberg — the chairman of the Numismatic Guaranty Corporation of Sarasota, Florida, which confirmed the authenticity of the coin — told Fox News.

'The front has a portrait of Marcus Junius Brutus — one of Caesar’s assassins — and the other side dramatically has two daggers and the words EID MAR, a Latin abbreviation for Ides of March,' he added.

It also features a 'cap of liberty', signifying the motivations behind the murder — and on the other face, the date of the deed. 

The item, Mr Salzberg explained, is 'one of the most important and valuable coins of the ancient world.'

Nearly 100 of such 'Ides of March' coins are known, according to the Numismatic Guaranty Corporation — however, most are cast in silver, and even these are considered essentially unobtainable by aficionados.

Only two others in gold are known to exist — one of which is on display in the British Museum, while the other resides in the permanent collection of the Deutsche Bundesbank, the central bank of the Federal Republic of Germany.

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The minting of the coin has been described as a 'naked and shameless celebration' of Caesar's murder two years previously in 44 BC, as depicted. The assassination was prompted by concern among the senate that Caesar — having recently been named 'dictator in perpetuity' — would name himself king. Fear of this tyranny fostered a conspiracy of 60 senators who ended up stabbing the statesman 23 times, according to history's first recorded autopsy.

'We are extremely privileged to bring this coin to auction with the invaluable assistance of Numismatic Guaranty Corporation, whose expert specialists have assisted in authenticating it,' said Roma Numismatics' director Richard Beale.

'Considering the coin’s rarity, artistry and fabled place in history, I would not be surprised if it sold for several million,' Mr Salzberg told Fox News.

This could make it the most expensive Roman gold coin to have ever been sold.