love token;
coin
- Museum number
- J.3283
- Description
-
Silver love token.
- Production date
- 1916
- Dimensions
-
Weight: 5.460 grammes
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- Who were Fred and Nellie? Responding to a 2014 BM Blog about the coin by Ben Alsop, curator in the Department of Coins and Medals, a person emailed to provide a possible identification.
Their grandfather, Frederick Sharp, married Ellen (who everyone knew as Nellie) on 05 August 1916 at the John Street Baptist Church in Holborn. Fred had been called up in 1916 and married Nellie just before he left for France with the King’s Royal Rifle Corps. A photograph taken on their wedding day (published on the blog) shows the newly married couple, Fred in his army uniform and Nellie seated by his side.
The King’s Royal Rifle Corps had a total of fourteen battalions engaged at the Battle of the Somme from July 1916 until its end in November later that same year. It is possible that Fred saw action in the battle. He returned home to be reunited with Nellie and the couple had three children, eventually living in Friern Barnet in North London. Nellie died in 1966, the year the token entered the museum collection as a donation from Miss Margaret Mary Carvell who lived at 30 Daleham Gardens, Hampstead. Margaret Carvell was evidently interested in coins as she had joined the British Numismatic Society in November 1966, but died just two years later.
- Location
- On display (G68/dc18/p3)
- Acquisition date
- 1966
- Acquisition notes
- Ticket reads: Pres Mrs Carvell, Hampstead 3.11.1966
- Department
- Money and Medals
- Registration number
- J.3283
- Additional IDs
-
Miscellaneous number: HSBC.1205 (Money Gallery Exhibited)
