Cartographer or Con Man?

CNG 106, Lot: 1045. Estimate $1000. Sold for $600. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

ITALY, Firenze. Vincenzo Piccolomini, conte di Aragona, cartographer. fl. 1840. Æ Medal (49mm, 57.73 g, 12h). Mapping of California?. By K. Lange. Dually dated 1836 and 1843 (in Roman numerals). VINCENTIUS COMES PICCOLOMINI DE ARAGONA, bare head left / CALIFORNIAE DESCIPTAE, personification of cartography seated left, holding compass and scroll; globe to lower left, map case to lower right. Wurzbach 1279; Forrer III, p. 297. Superb EF, warm brown surfaces. Extremely rare.

This cataloger was remarkably unable to find any information on Vincenzo Piccolomini, save for his membership in the Accademia della Scienze in December 1839, noting him as “conte, cartografo in Firenze.” Wurzbach relates an enigmatic note on the specimen in the Vienna cabinet stating, “he was no Piccolomini, only a con man who used the name.”