World Medals: Bianchi, Ignazio (Italian, fl. 1848-1869); b. Rome, but now attributed to Bianchi, Giuseppe (Italian, 1808-1877); b. Rome ITALY, Ricostruzione della Basilica di San Paulo fuori le mura, Rome [Reconstruction of the Basilica of St Paul Outside the Walls], 1854, a copper medal signed I. Bianchi, bust of Pius IX left in skull cap, rev. internal view of the basilica, 82mm, 249.71g (Bertuzzi 380; Bartolotti 7; Mazio 731; Molinari 216; Istituto Poligrafico Exh. Cat. 1980, 279-80; cf. Münz Zentrum 103, 6934-5; cf. Tkalec 2008, 844; cf. BSJ 43, 711; cf. Silich I, 41). Extremely fine £200-£260 A fire in July 1823 led to the near-total destruction of the original basilica, which was rebuilt over the next 30 years and reconsecrated by Pius IX on 4 December 1854. The attribution of the medallist responsible was corrected from Ignazio Bianchi to Giuseppe Bianchi by Giancarlo Alteri, the then Director of the Vatican Collection, in March 2012