Memento of the French Occupation of Rome

292, Lot: 498. Estimate $75. Sold for $190. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

ITALY, Papale (Stato pontificio). Pius IX. 1846-1878. Gilt AR 20 Baiocchi ( 24 mm, 5.29 g, 6h). Scudo coinage. Rome mint. Dually dated RY 20 and AD 1865. Bust left, wearing zucchetto, mozzetta, and pallium; engraved with a smoking pipe, accented clothing, side curl (Jewish payot?), and inscription JE SUIS FAUX COMME/ LA MESSE (I am as fake as the Mass) / Denomination and date within wreath. Berman 3314. VF.

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