Liard 1852 - Prince-bishopric of Liege Replica

The sede vacante issues of Liège occupy an unusual corner of Belgian ecclesiastical numismatics — struck under the authority of the cathedral chapter during the vacancy between bishops, they reflect a jurisdictional tradition that predates Belgian independence entirely. The original 17th-century liards of the Prince-Bishopric circulated widely in the southern Low Countries, often interchangeably with Spanish and later Austrian issues of comparable denomination. This 1852 piece is a replica, produced well after the Prince-Bishopric itself had been abolished by French Revolutionary decree in 1795.