164, Lot: 190. Estimate $75. Sold for $82. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

SCOTLAND. James VI. 1567-1625. Æ Plack (21mm, 1.49 g). Issue of Mary; dated 1557, countermarked 1575. Crowned shield dividing M R; countermark: star in out-lined heart / Ornate cross with plain cross in center and crowns in angles. SCBC 5437 and note on p. 77; Burns p. 315, 7. Near VF, a little rough.

The countermark is of the arms of the Earl of Morton, Regent for the eight year old James VI. Rampant counterfeiting had ruined the value of Scottish coinage, and the placks of Mary, and other circulating coinage, were called in and countermarked if found genuine. Their value was also reduced from four pence to two pence.