Denarius Valeria: Lucius Valerius Acisculus, ACISCVLVS / L•VALERIVS

Lucius Valerius Acisculus issued this denarius in 45 BC as moneyer under Caesar's dictatorship, a period when the traditional collegium of tresviri monetales was increasingly subordinated to autocratic control of the mint. The Valeria gens claimed descent from Valerius Publicola, one of the first consuls of the Republic — a lineage Acisculus was clearly intent on advertising at a moment when Republican institutions were visibly collapsing around the coinage that bore their names.

The acisculus, a stone-mason's pick used in sacred contexts, served as the family's punning badge and appears as a mint mark device on this issue. RRC 474/1 is known from a reasonably large die study, with RBW recording four distinct specimen references across the series.