287, Lot: 738. Estimate $100. Sold for $170. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

ITALY, Papale (Stato pontificio). Pius VI (Giovanni Angelo Braschi). 1775-1799. Æ Medal (40mm, 19.63 g, 12h). Dually-dated RY 17 and 1791 in Roman numerals. Bust right, wearing zucchetto, mozzetta, and pallium / Ceres reclining right on rock, holding cornucopia, with feet upon overturned urns from which water pours forth. Mazio 531; Lincoln 1984. EF, rich brown surfaces, a few light spots.

From an old English collection.

Economic and political upheaval dominated the later part of Pius VI’s pontificate, a native of Cesena. In 1791, he condemned the establishment of France’s state church and later lost its northern provinces to the French. In 1798, French forces marched upon Rome and captured the pope, holding him prisoner in Drôme until his death six weeks later. Though embalmed, he was not buried until early in 1800 in an effort by Napoleon to warm the relations between France and the Catholic Church. Ultimately, his body was removed from its burial place in Valance and reburied at Rome.