The merk () is a long-obsolete

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

silver Silver is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag () and atomic number 47. A soft, whitish-gray, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, and reflectivity of any metal. ...

coin A coin is a small object, usually round and flat, used primarily as a medium of exchange or legal tender. They are standardized in weight, and produced in large quantities at a mint in order to facilitate trade. They are most often issued by ...

. Originally the same word as a

money mark Mark Ramos Nishita (born February 10, 1960), known professionally as Money Mark, is an American producer and musician, best known for his collaborations with the Beastie Boys from 1992 until 2011. Early life Born in Detroit to a Japanese-Hawai ...

of silver, the merk was in circulation at the end of the 16th century and in the 17th century. It was originally valued at 13

shilling The shilling is a historical coin, and the name of a unit of modern currency, currencies formerly used in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, other British Commonwealth countries and Ireland, where they were generally equivalent to 1 ...

s 4

pence A penny is a coin (: pennies) or a unit of currency (: pence) in various countries. Borrowed from the Carolingian denarius (hence its former abbreviation d.), it is usually the smallest denomination within a currency system. At present, it is t ...

(exactly of a

pound Scots The pound ( Modern and Middle Scots: ''Pund'') was the currency of Scotland prior to the 1707 Treaty of Union between the Kingdom of Scotland and the Kingdom of England, which created the Kingdom of Great Britain. It was introduced by David I ...

, or about one

sterling), later raised to 14''s.'' Scots.

Varieties

In addition to the merks, coins issued include the four merk worth 56''s.'' or £2/16/-; the half merk (or

noble A noble is a member of the nobility. Noble may also refer to: Places Antarctica * Noble Glacier, King George Island * Noble Nunatak, Marie Byrd Land * Noble Peak, Wiencke Island * Noble Rocks, Graham Land Australia * Noble Island, Gr ...

), worth 6/8 or 80 pence; the quarter merk, 3/4 or 40''d.''; the eighth-thistle merk, worth 1/8 or 20''d.''

Issues and historical context

The first issue weighed and was 50% silver and 50% base metals,. thus it contained of pure silver. "Markland", or "Merkland", was used to describe an amount of land in Scottish deeds and legal papers. It was based upon a common valuation of the land. During the "Lang Siege" of

Edinburgh Castle Edinburgh Castle is a historic castle in Edinburgh, Scotland. It stands on Castle Rock (Edinburgh), Castle Rock, which has been occupied by humans since at least the Iron Age. There has been a royal castle on the rock since the reign of Malcol ...

in 1572, the last phase of the Marian civil war, the goldsmith James Cockie minted half merks in the castle, while the supporters of

James VI James may refer to: People * James (given name) * James (surname) * James (musician), aka Faruq Mahfuz Anam James, (born 1964), Bollywood musician * James, brother of Jesus * King James (disambiguation), various kings named James * Prince Ja ...

set up their mint at

Dalkeith Dalkeith ( ; , ) is a town in Midlothian, Scotland, on the River Esk. It was granted a burgh of barony in 1401 and a burgh of regality in 1541. The settlement of Dalkeith grew southwestwards from its 12th-century castle (now Dalkeith Pala ...

. The "Ten Merk Court" was a

small-claims court Small-claims courts have limited jurisdiction to hear civil cases between private litigants. Courts authorized to try small claims may also have other judicial functions, and go by different names in different jurisdictions. For example, it may ...

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

dealing with small debts up to the value of ten merks (i.e. £7), or for the recovery of

servant A domestic worker is a person who works within a residence and performs a variety of household services for an individual, from providing cleaning and household maintenance, or cooking, laundry and ironing, or care for children and elderly ...

s' wages. James VI issued silver merks with the lion of Scotland on the obverse and a thistle on the reverse. The last Scottish silver coinage of merks before the

Union of Crowns The Union of the Crowns (; ) was the accession of James VI of Scotland to the throne of the Kingdom of England as James I and the practical unification of some functions (such as overseas diplomacy) of the two separate realms under a single i ...

of 1603, sometimes called the "eighth coinage" of James VI, were dated 1601, 1602, 1603, with some full thistle merks minted in 1604. James VI and I made the merk current in England on 8 April 1603, to be worth 13.5 English pence.John Drummond Robertson, ''A Handbook to the Coinage of Scotland'' (London, 1878), p. 86: Edward Burns, ''Coinage of Scotland'' (Edinburgh, 1887), p. 384.

References

{{Coins of Scotland Coins of Scotland