2 Gulden / 8 Kreuzer - Charles Alexander Siege Coinage

Landau changed hands four times between 1702 and 1713, making it among the most contested fortresses of the War of the Spanish Succession. This piece belongs to the final siege, when Imperial and allied forces blockaded the city under French garrison. Necessity coinage of this kind was struck from whatever silver could be gathered inside the walls — plate, ecclesiastical metal, personal items — rolled and cut into planchets with no regard for regularity.

Charles Alexander of Württemberg commanded the French defense. The dual denomination inscription reflects an attempt to assign consistent exchange value to irregular emergency pieces that varied noticeably in weight and thickness from one strike to the next.