Danzig fell to Napoleon's forces in 1807 after a two-month siege, after which it was reconstituted as a nominally independent free city under French military administration. Marshal François Joseph Lefebvre, who commanded the siege, was rewarded with the title Duke of Danzig — largely a ceremonial honor, as the city's actual governance was tightly controlled by Paris. These copper schillings, struck under his nominal authority between 1808 and 1812, represent the municipal coinage of a city that had effectively ceased to govern itself.
Danzig fell to Napoleon's forces in 1807 after a two-month siege, after which it was reconstituted as a nominally independent free city under French military administration. Marshal François Joseph Lefebvre, who commanded the siege, was rewarded with the title Duke of Danzig — largely a ceremonial honor, as the city's actual governance was tightly controlled by Paris. These copper schillings, struck under his nominal authority between 1808 and 1812, represent the municipal coinage of a city that had effectively ceased to govern itself.