Description

Anne, 1702-1714. Silver Medal 1710, 29.80 g. Capture of Douay. Unsigned, probably by M. Brunner. Sun disappearing behind a terrestrial globe. DEFECTVM LVMINE VIDIT. Rv. Two soldiers seated playing dice, with counters labelled MONS, RUSEL, DORNIC, ARRAS, PARIS and DOUAY, the last of which they exchange. SPES PERDENS. In exergue: DVACVM GALLIS PACEM SPERN . EREPTVM . MDCCX. Plain edge. 44 mm. Eimer 444. MI ii 371/216. van Loon V, 165,2. Saunders/Vanhoudt 1710-11. Fast FDC / About Mint State. Prachtexemplar / Cabinet piece.

Purchased from Schweizerischer Bankverein, Basel, July 1992, lot 1410.

The siege of Douai, which lasted from 22 April 1710 until the capitulation of the garrison on 25 June 1710 was part of the Allied Campaign of 1710 in the War of the Spanish Succession.

Louis XIV sees his emblem, the Sun, eclipsed. On the reverse he appears as a gamester, who, having lost some great stakes, seems prepared to risk his last and most valuable property as a sort of forlorn hope in an effort to regain what he had lost.