The French equivalent is Plaque. There are various meanings for this term, e.g., a flat sur- face, a plate, a shield, a piece of tin, etc. To one of these definitions can probably be traced the name of the small coins is- sued in Brabant, Lorraine, and the neigh- boring districts from the fourteenth cen- turj- to the seventeenth. They were usu- ally of the size of a Groschen, and of in- ferior silver.

Double Plakken occur for Groningen, etc., from 1579 to about 1620, and a twelve Plakken piece was struck by Philip II for Overysel in 1560.

The diminutive, called Plaquette, was applied to small silver coins issued about the same time in Burgundy, Liege, etc. One variety remained current in Belgium to the Revolution in 1830. See Gros Blanque an Lis.