1 Plack - James VI

The plack denomination had circulated in Scotland since the fifteenth century, but by James VI's minority and early personal reign the coinage had become a persistent headache for the Privy Council. Successive debasements under his predecessors left the public deeply suspicious of billon issues, and proclamations attempting to fix exchange rates between Scottish and English coin were largely ignored in practice.

Spink 5513 corresponds to the "sixth period" coinage reforms initiated around 1583, part of a broader effort to rationalize a chaotic monetary system before James was old enough to govern effectively. The regent's council, not the teenage king, drove most of these decisions.