Braunau am Inn was besieged by Austrian forces in 1743 during the War of Austrian Succession, after the town had fallen under Bavarian and French occupation. With regular coin supply cut off, the besieged garrison resorted to casting lead — a material stripped from rooftops and window frames — to produce emergency money. Lead siege coinage of this weight class is among the most fragile survivors of any 18th-century military emergency issue; the metal corrodes readily, and most examples that circulated heavily are now little more than shapeless discs.
Braunau am Inn was besieged by Austrian forces in 1743 during the War of Austrian Succession, after the town had fallen under Bavarian and French occupation. With regular coin supply cut off, the besieged garrison resorted to casting lead — a material stripped from rooftops and window frames — to produce emergency money. Lead siege coinage of this weight class is among the most fragile survivors of any 18th-century military emergency issue; the metal corrodes readily, and most examples that circulated heavily are now little more than shapeless discs.