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Research Coins: Electronic Auction

 
304, Lot: 519. Estimate $75.
Sold for $45. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

ITALY, Papale (Stato pontificio). Pius IX. 1846-1878. AR 10 Soldi (19mm, 2.43 g, 6h). Lira coinage. Rome mint. Dually dated RY 22 and AD 1868. Bust left, wearing zucchetto, mozzetta, and pallium; engraved with a smoking pipe and accented clothing / Denomination and date within wreath. Berman 3335. VF, toned, holed.


During the Second Italian War of Independence, as the Piedmontese and French campaigned to free northern Italy from Austrian domination, Guiseppe Garibaldi raised an army to take Rome. Though he was defeated at the battle of Aspromonte, his rallying cry of “Roma o morte!” (Rome or death) nevertheless influenced the policies of the new kingdom, which desired complete unification under a single authority. Accordingly, at the close of the war, Napoléon III retained a number of troops in Rome, to protect the Pope from secular forces. The garrison was sufficient to prevent Vittorio Emanuele II from moving against the city until August 1870, when the French forces were recalled for the Franco-Prussian War. Royal forces entered the city on 20 September 1870, following ineffective resistance by the Papal Zouaves, thus ending the Risorgimento.

This and lot ____ were likely carved by a member of the French garrison, perhaps after becoming disillusioned with his posting so far from home.