ROMAN REPUBLIC
M. Porcius Cato
AR Quinarius. 1.77g, 15.5mm
MINTED: Rome mint, 89 BC
REF: Crawford 343/2b
OBVERSE: M CATO (AT ligate), head of Liber wearing ivy wreath right, control below.
REVERSE: VICTRIX (TR ligate), Victory seated on throne right, holding palm branch and patera.

Grade/Notes:
Almost Very Fine. Toned.
Valued at 5 asses, this silver fractional coin was struck in smaller quantities than the more common denarii. 
 
Historical Notes: 
Not much is known of the M. Porcius Cato who was the moneyer who issued this coin in 89 BC, at the end of the Social War (91-88 BC).  He was certainly a relation of M. Porcius Cato (Cato the Younger), the famed orator who was an implacabl  enemy of Julius Caesar, and who also struck a quinarius using these very same types, but some 40 years later during Caesar's Civil War (49-45 BC).