Plack (coin)

A plack (Scottish Gaelic: plang) was an ancient Scottish coin of the value of four Scots pence or by 1707 one third of an English penny.[1]

In 1588 the word plack was also used to describe coins of the value of a penny or two pence, the "tuppences" having two dots placed next to the lion of Scotland. These twopenny placks are known as "hardheads" today.[2]

The coin appears in the old song:

A’ that e’er my Jeanie had,

My Jeanie had, my Jeanie had,

A’ that e’er my Jeanie had

Was ae bawbie

There’s your plack, and my plack,

And your plack, and my plack,

And Jeanie’s bawbie.

The word is probably derived from the ancient Flemish coin, a plaquette, in use before the introduction into the Netherlands of the French money reckoned by francs and centimes.

It can be found in the works of Robert Burns too:

Nae howdie gets a social night,

or plack frae them

(Scotch Drink)

Stretch a joint to catch a plack,

Abuse a brother to his back.

(To Gavin Hamilton)