Two sides of coin, one inscribed with 'From Fred to Nellie France 1916'

A First World War love story on a coin

Room 68

Discover more in our Money gallery, spanning from around 2000 BC to present day.

Visit Room 68
Search the collection

In this video, Ben Alsop, Curator of the Citi Money Gallery, talks about a love note found inscribed on the back of a coin in the Museum.

The inscription was simple: 'From Fred to Nellie, France 1916'. There was no additional information to identify who this couple might be. This is the tale of how Ben used a blog post to hunt down Fred and Nellie and uncover a 100-year-old love story. 

View the coin on Collection online.

Watch the video

Curator's Corner: A World War 1 love story on a coin

You may also be interested in

  • A mummy case decorated with hieroglyphs in shades of blue, gold and deep red

    The Aswan cartonnage

    100 years after it disappeared from the archaeological record, this extraordinary cartonnage coffin from ancient Egypt is on display.
  • Iron and tinned bronze helmet with gold features, looking face on.

    Collection

    Explore the British Museum collection and journey through two million years of human history.
  • A writing tablet made of wood and covered in lines of script in ink. The tablet is in fragments and laid out on cloth.

    The Vindolanda tablets

    1,700 tablets from Roman Britain tell us intimate details of fort life in the words of the people who lived there. Here's why they matter.