Struck during the French Revolutionary siege of Maastricht in 1794, this piece belongs to a small class of obsidional coinage — emergency money produced by a besieged garrison when normal supply lines were severed. The city held out under Austrian command before finally capitulating to General Kléber's forces in November of that year. Siege coinages of this type were struck from whatever silver could be sourced locally, which accounts for the weight inconsistencies documented across surviving specimens.
Delmonte records relatively few confirmed examples, and attrition from the siege itself kept survivors scarce.
Struck during the French Revolutionary siege of Maastricht in 1794, this piece belongs to a small class of obsidional coinage — emergency money produced by a besieged garrison when normal supply lines were severed. The city held out under Austrian command before finally capitulating to General Kléber's forces in November of that year. Siege coinages of this type were struck from whatever silver could be sourced locally, which accounts for the weight inconsistencies documented across surviving specimens.
Delmonte records relatively few confirmed examples, and attrition from the siege itself kept survivors scarce.