09/08/2026
This shilling coin of George V appears ordinary at first, but its inverse side has an incredible story to tell. This coin has been transformed into a love token, with one side smoothed down, and a simple message inscribed: 'From Fred to Nellie, France 1916'.
There are a number of these tokens in the collection, dating back to the 18th and 19th centuries when they were at the height of their popularity. Most famously they were used by people who had been convicted of a crime in Britain and were sent to penal colonies in America or Australia as punishment.
Records show that the coin was presented by a Mrs. Carvell of Hampstead in 1966, but there was no additional information to identify who the couple in this century-old love story might be. Ben Alsop, Curator of the Citi Money Gallery, published a blog on the Museum’s website appealing for more information.
As fate would have it, just a few weeks after the blog was published, a woman named Joy contacted the Museum, with strong evidence to suggest that the Fred and Nellie on this coin were her grandparents. They married in London in 1916. That same year her grandfather went to fight at the Somme in the First World War.
1966, when the token came into the Museum's collection, is the year that Nellie died. While we can never be certain that this is the Fred and Nellie mentioned on the coin, it is a compelling thought. A mass-produced coin, initially intended to be used in exchange, trade, and purchase, has had its function completely transformed, becoming a testament to two people’s relationship that survives over a century later.
🪙 Love token. Silver, England (engraved in France), 1916.
