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Today I want to tell you about a new find from the Thames, given to me by a treasure hunter friend. A few weeks ago, I met my friend Florrie Evans and her nine-year-old daughter Ceci.
We spent two wonderful hours exploring the Thames foreshore, and although the tide was quite high, we found some fascinating pieces of London's forgotten history. These included the lock of an old Victorian barge, a marble, a 19th-century stylus, and an 18th-century clay tobacco pipe. However, Florrie made the most spectacular find of the day. She discovered something we initially thought was an old penny, perhaps from the Victorian or Georgian era. However, we made an unexpected discovery when Ceci washed the coin in the river. Before us, on one side of the penny, was the head of King Neptune with a trident on his shoulder.
Of course, we were all thrilled with this discovery, and when we turned the coin over, we saw an illustration of several men in a boat, obviously harpooning a whale. The inscription on the coin confirmed it: “Halfpenny, Payable at I. Fowler’s, London. Whale Fishery - 1794”. What an incredible piece of history from London’s past. A truly brilliant find. At the end of our mudlarking adventure, Florrie generously gave me the coin. I was overjoyed and couldn't wait to learn as much as I could about I. Fowler.
I am so grateful for this special gift and will take it to the Museum of London to be registered there. However, I would love to know whose pocket this coin was last in and who dropped it. Perhaps someone lost it while on their way to buy oil for their lamp at home. Perhaps it slipped out of the pocket of someone who wanted to buy oil from John Fowler to make soap. We'll never know, but it certainly sparks the imagination!
If you want to see Florrie discover the coin from whale oil merchant John Fowler and what else we found, you can watch the video here.
About Tideline Art
When I moved from Cornwall to London over twenty years ago, I had no idea that the Thames would show me such a fascinating and magical world, and that its muddy banks at low tide would reveal a wealth of historical secrets and figures from the past. I was used to walking along windy beaches in Cornwall and discovering finds, but I never thought anything similar could be possible in an urban environment like London.
More about Mudlarking
Stories from the Thames
A rare Tudor coin
An ancient bottle
The smallest finds
The story of the 19th-century pewter jug
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