Italy. The Roman Republic (1798-1799), Siege of Ancona AV ‘Scudo Romano’. Ancona, 1799. PIVS SEXTVS PONT M A VI, oval coat of arms of the Braschi in a rich cornice decorated with cornucopiae and shell, surmounted by a radiant papal tiara and crossed keys / AVXILIVM DE SANCTO 1780, veiled personification of Holy Church, with radiant head, seated to front on clouds, holding keys of St Peter in right hand and extending left to a small domed temple; in left inner field, mint mark A; below, small coat of arms of Mons. Giuseppe Vai. Plain edge. M. Dubbini & G. Mancinelli, Storia delle monete di Ancona, Ancona 2009, 7.4 and p. 206, first paragraph (this coin); M. Traina, Gli assedi e le loro monete (491-1861), Bologna 1976, ‘Ancona, asseddio austro-russo-turco del 1799’, pp. 55-75, 3. For related obsidional silver issues of Ancona cf. Muntoni IV, p. 212, 20 pl. 218; Serafini III, 855; Pagani p. 262 note; Berman 3001 (Pius VI); Gigante 2005, p. 373, 1; KM 10. 37.20g, 41mm, 6h. Fleur De Coin. Unique and of great numismatic interest. The allied siege and naval blockade of Ancona from 18 March - 13 November 1799 was effected by a squadron of 8 Russian and Turkish ships, and on land, by an army of troops from Austria, Russia and Turkey. This was the occasion for the remarkable obsidional issue by Ancona of silver coins utilising dies previously used for silver scudi and half scudi from the Rome mint in the name of Pius VI, as well as local copper 2 and 1 Baiocchi pieces. According to the Abbot Antonio Leoni, in Ancona Ilustrata opera dell’Abbate Antonio Leoni anconitano colle risposte ai sigg. Peruzzi, Pignetti etc, e il compendio delle memorie storiche d’Ancona, Ancona 1832 (Archivio comunale di Ancona fasc. 2920, p. 100), the new mint was housed in a confiscated collegiate church and entrusted on 3 Fiorile (11 April) to the chief mint master of the new Roman Republic, Luigi Severi. The emergency mint was operational by the end of Germile (about 19 April), and with the seizure of church property and forced contributions from wealthy private citizens, including the Jewish community, it began to strike coins in bronze, silver and gold. Leoni op. cit., p. 376, expressly states that gold was struck: (‘Zecca: ove fu battuta la moneta d rame, e di bronzo, da’ argento, e d’ oro: esendo zecchiere il signor Luigi romano. Le monete d’oro, e d’ argento (piasre e doppie) furono coniate simile alle pontifice, e di eguale purezza.’). The bronze coinage was struck from the bell metal recovered from the local churches, the ‘voluntary’ silver was debased and struck from modified Pius VI dies with a small mint mark ‘A’ added to the field of the reverse die. However, none of the gold coinage has survived except for the above specimen which according to Dubbini and Mancinelli, p. 206: ‘probabilmente si tratta di un omaggio fatto durante l’assedio a qualche personaggio di rilievo’ (‘it is probably a donative made during the siege for a very important person’). The ancient Doric city of Ancona was founded by Syracusan exiles (Strabo v.4.3.2 [241]) in the early fourth century BC on an elbow-shaped promontory (Ἀγκών), which gave the town its name, situated on an excellent natural harbour. Under the Roman Empire the city became a municipium and base for the fleet; Trajan improved the port, where he built nearby a splendid triumphal arch celebrating the Dacian victory. Under Byzantium, Ancona became the first city of the Maritime Pentapolis, governed by Ravenna, but with considerable autonomy. The seat of a Carolingian march, it eventually became a semi-independent maritime republic under papal patronage, rich in commerce with Constantinople. After the fall of Constantinople in 1453, Ancona’s fortunes waned. The Medici pope Clement VII seized the city in 1532, bringing it under direct papal rule. In February 1797 Ancona was occupied by the French and on 19 November became the revolutionary Anconine Republic (Repubblica Anconitana) and part of Napoleon’s newly proclaimed First Roman Republic (Repubblica Romana). Ancona soon became target for the anti-French alliance and became the subject of a well documented siege. The long and obstinate defence of the besieged obtained for the defenders, as it always should do, the most honourable of terms; and General Monnier and his troops were highly complimented for their bravery by the Austrian General Frœlich. Ancona became once again a papal state (1799-1808), part of the Italian Kingdom of Napoleon (1808-1814), yet again a papal state (1814-1848), a part of the second revolutionary Roman Republic (1848-1849), and finally again a papal state (1849-1860), before its entry in the Kingdom of Italy in 29 September 1860.
