In 1685, the new territories Louis XIV had conquered in the north of his kingdom over the Spanish Low Countries were endowed with a wellknown coinage: the socalled ‘Flemish’ silver coins. Although these pieces, as numismatic objects, have already been treated in numerous publications, the background, the reasons and the choices which led to their issue have never been studied. However, it is precisely for the creation of this series that, for the first time, a comprehensive dossier had been prepared that is kept in the archives of the Contrôle général des Finances. It con tains a ﬔll survey of the opinions of all the concerned parties that took the occasion to present their opinion i.a. on the quality of the monetary circulation, gangrened by the bad HispanoAmerican ‘pieces of eight’ to the point of disturbing public order. Each of them proposed solutions primarily serving their own interests, but it were eventually the king’s– military and mercantile– interests which would prevail.