War of the Spanish Succession (1701-1714) // The Siege of Tournai

Sale: Triton X, Lot: 924. Estimate $500.  Closing Date: Monday, 8 January 2007.  Sold For $650. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

LOW COUNTRIES, Spaanse Nederlanden (Spanish Netherlands). Tournai. AR 20 Stuivers Klippe (6.87 g). Siege coinage. Undated issue (1709). M DE SVRVILLE, laureate bust of the Marquis de Surville left; 20 above, small tower below / Blank. Delmonte, Argent 363; Mailliet 14.3; KM 8. VF, toned.

Tournai, a city in the Spanish Netherlands, was taken by France after the War of Devolution (1667-1668), in which France under Louis XIV fought the Spanish Habsburgs. Later, during the War of the Spanish Succession (1701-1714), England’s Duke of Marlborough besieged Tournai in his campaign against France in the Low Countries. The siege began on 27 June, after Marlborough had succeeded in tricking French General Villars into moving some of his men from Tournai to defend other towns. The town fell to Marlborough on 3 September, allowing him to continue his successful advance on other French-held towns. The Treaty of Utrecht, which helped end the war, gave Tournai to Austria in 1713.