25 Sols Siege of Aire

Aire-sur-la-Lys was besieged by Marlborough's forces in the summer of 1710, and like many beleaguered French towns of the War of the Spanish Succession, the city administration authorized emergency coinage when conventional supply lines collapsed. These obsidional pieces were struck from whatever silver could be requisitioned locally — plate, ecclesiastical objects, and private holdings pressed into service by military necessity. The weight standard was approximated rather than guaranteed, which explains the variation collectors encounter across surviving examples.

Boudeau 1995 is among the scarcer siege issues of this conflict. Aire fell to the Allies in November 1710 after a siege of roughly six weeks.