Coins & Bridges.....

Here's an interesting thought. Someone mentioned bridges in relation to coins in the thread regarding lucky coins. How many of you can remember the old tradition of dropping coins from bridges as you cross them?

I can recall my grandmother and great aunt doing so when we would take our daily walk to our local park. I couldn't have been older than four, as we moved from the family home in the town centre at that time. They walked everywhere arm in arm and I tagged along holding my nursemaids hand. Occasionally they would stop and remove a small copper coin from their purses and throw them out into the water. As they did so I can very clearly recall the maid letting go of my hand and giving a small curtsey. They probably had no idea why they did it other than their mothers and grandmothers did it too.  

Maybe it's just a folk tradition peculiar to rural Lancashire, maybe it's simply a family tradition which wasn't passed down. I've certainly never seen much written about the tradition. It could be more widespread than I suspect however.  A few years later my schoolmates would do the same thing as we made our way back from the cricket field to the school, crossing the same bridge. It's in one of the oldest parts of town about which there were many legends of murders during the civil war and tunnels connecting the church to the river. Ghosts are plentiful in rural Lancashire! The bridge itself is iron and was built on the site of a much older bridge during the mid 19th century railroad expansions.

How many of you live in a town or city which has a "Ha'penny Bridge", maybe it was renamed after some fat arsed politician years ago but the old name still lingers? I've seen a lot of variations on this theme in different parts of the world. Unlike today where modern construction makes bridges commonplace, in days gone by they were a really big deal. Towns grew up around those places with a river crossing. Look how many English towns end with "Ford" "Ferry" "Crossing" or "Bridge".   Travel was a serious business and a risky one. Every day spent on the road was a day where no money was made and when attacks from robbers were likely.

A traveler  would be most grateful to find a crossing which might take days or even weeks of his journey. It's not beyond the bounds of possibility that he would drop a small coin much like the Roman practice of libation? Or maybe it was because of the belief that trolls lived under bridges and you were buying your passage? Perhaps it was an offering to a long forgotten water god?

Anyone else getting interested in this subject? I feel like doing some writing, the muse has returned! I've got dozens of such ideas for half finished articles which I revisit once in a while and add a couple of paragraphs. I'm actually a quite talented writer but I've had a lifelong curse of extreme laziness. Such is life <sigh>

Well, let's see what we can come up with, can anyone offer any information on local customs related to this theme? Does your part of the world have such a folk tradition. Is the bridge still there? Can you cite references? Supply pictures?

If we achieve nothing else we might make a few metal detectorists / treasure hunters very happy.

I don't remember tossing them off bridges, but there certainly seems to be something about coins and water.  There's the famous "wishing well" concept, the Trevi  fountain in Italy and I've always seen coins that have been tossed into the fish pond at our local botanical gadens.  I'm not sure how lucky it was for the people that toss them in, but I can only imagine that the goldfish don't consider it to be too lucky to be constantly bombarded with coins.  I used to work at a local tourist attraction.  A stately house built by a local politician in the 1870s.  They had a wishing well and the current owners encourage people toss coins in to get a wish, probably because every so often they'd lower someone down headfirst to fish out 10 years of bounty from the bottom of it.

"I've had a lifelong curse of extreme laziness." Yes, I have the same issue. I am a procrastinator but I never get around to doing anything about. I don't remember tossing coins off bridges but I have thrown a lot of coins into fountains. There are also those water tanks at restaurants that offer a free drink or lunch if you can drop a coin in and have it land on a plastic ledge.

But since this is about bridges. Here is a coin with a bridge on it that I would love to get.  I used to drive back and forth across this bridge almost everyday when I lived in California. It is a  beautiful coin.  

Karlův most (Charles Bridge, Prague)

Цитата: chomp-masterKarlův most (Charles Bridge, Prague)

The Czech Republic has some nice coins I've noticed.

I would need to go through all of them to see if there isn't a bridge in the background; but I am sure we don't have a single coin with bridges.
We have a few with aqueducts; so those might count as bridges... for water.

About throwing coins off bridges it isn't done here in Mexico. The tallest bridges are usually in toll roads, so the federal toll-free roads cross under them... so dropping a coin is cinsidered irresponsible as you might damage the vehicles bellow.

I can swim 35 feet down free diving, or we could just get some scuba gear, when do we start?  

  

If this thread is now a topical bridge thread, I have some local tokens to fit the theme.


Devon, Alberta - the former Devon Bridge. Nothing to write home about.

Craigellachie, British Columbia - a big trestle in the Canadian Rockies. I've been to Craigellachie so I can tell you it's not actually a town, it's just a stop on the highway with a gift shop. It exists because it is the place where the first Atlantic-to-Pacific Canadian railway was completed, with much fanfare. Then it was declared a National Historic Site and became a tourist attraction.

Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario - the International Bridge. It connects the two Sault Ste. Maries, one in Michigan, one in Ontario.

Windsor, Ontario - the Ambassador Bridge. Connecting Windsor and Detroit, it is the busiest international border crossing in North America.

Interprovincial waters - The Confederation Bridge. It spans the Straits of Northumberland between Prince Edward Island (the smallest province) and New Brunswick, and was only built in 1997. It's probably one of Canada's most famous bridges, not that this counts for much. Entitled little Prince Edward Island said it would only join Canada (way back in 1873) if the government of Canada would pay for a reliable ferry service between Prince Edward Island and the mainland. (Otherwise, the Islanders threatened to apply for American statehood.) This promise was inscribed into law - and so the construction of the Confederation Bridge and subsequent shutdown of the ferry service required a Queen-approved constitutional amendment!

Цитата: redsmithstudiosI can swim 35 feet down free diving, or we could just get some scuba gear, when do we start?  

Me too, let's go on an expedition!!

That does remind me that I have seen coins thrown off bridges in New Zealand.  In Rotorua there is a tourist attraction called the penny divers where the local children dive for pennies that tourists throw off a bridge.  It started decades ago and was probably the result of some enterprising locals taking advantage of the superstition that Phil was talking about.

There's a bit about it in the first paragraph of this article

http://www.rotorua-travel-secrets.com/whakarewarewa-thermal-village.html

Цитата: pnightingaleHere's an interesting thought. Someone mentioned bridges in relation to coins in the thread regarding lucky coins. How many of you can remember the old tradition of dropping coins from bridges as you cross them?

I can recall my grandmother and great aunt doing so when we would take our daily walk to our local park. I couldn't have been older than four, as we moved from the family home in the town centre at that time. They walked everywhere arm in arm and I tagged along holding my nursemaids hand. Occasionally they would stop and remove a small copper coin from their purses and throw them out into the water. As they did so I can very clearly recall the maid letting go of my hand and giving a small curtsey. They probably had no idea why they did it other than their mothers and grandmothers did it too.  

Maybe it's just a folk tradition peculiar to rural Lancashire, maybe it's simply a family tradition which wasn't passed down. I've certainly never seen much written about the tradition. It could be more widespread than I suspect however.  A few years later my schoolmates would do the same thing as we made our way back from the cricket field to the school, crossing the same bridge. It's in one of the oldest parts of town about which there were many legends of murders during the civil war and tunnels connecting the church to the river. Ghosts are plentiful in rural Lancashire! The bridge itself is iron and was built on the site of a much older bridge during the mid 19th century railroad expansions.

This may be of interest to the topic. "The Askham village and civil parish in the Eden District of Cumbria, England has a  local custom of throwing coins from the local bridge onto a boulder that lies below the water level. Getting the coin to stay on the rock gives the thrower 'good luck'. These are examples of 'Touch Pieces'. Obvious connections exist with water generally, and the practice of throwing in coins to seek 'favours' of the water spirits."


The Askham Bridge over the River Lowther, Cumbria, England.

I have never been to the U.K. or Ireland, but it is definitely on my bucket list.

source https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Askham,_Cumbria

Remember having this coin from Hungary, a bridge from Budapest

Цитата: frncsbrennanObvious connections exist with water generally, and the practice of throwing in coins to seek 'favours' of the water spirits."

Perhaps you're right.  Coins also used to be placed under a ships masts for good luck when the boats were being built.

Цитата: neilithic

Цитата: frncsbrennanObvious connections exist with water generally, and the practice of throwing in coins to seek 'favours' of the water spirits."

Perhaps you're right.  Coins also used to be placed under a ships masts for good luck when the boats were being built.

I believe it has to be a silver coin? Not sure. Somebody on Numista mentioned that penny coins were once put in building foundations to bring luck.  

I'm not sure it had to be silver.  I remember an old style boat was built for Australia's bi-centenary a while ago and the coin that was used was a gold sovereign.

Цитата: frncsbrennan

Цитата: neilithic

Цитата: frncsbrennanObvious connections exist with water generally, and the practice of throwing in coins to seek 'favours' of the water spirits."

Perhaps you're right.  Coins also used to be placed under a ships masts for good luck when the boats were being built.

I believe it has to be a silver coin? Not sure. Somebody on Numista mentioned that penny coins were once put in building foundations to bring luck.

in the us, it is silver dollars. I once read that under the empire state building, there are over 2500 morgan dollars.

There are some coins in the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty as well.

Above all, Portuguese coins have ships and famous captains having sailed the globe.

But this one has the ‘Vasco da Gama’ bridge in Lisbon over the Tejo. The name of the bridge doesn't come at a surprise: Vasco da Gama was a Portuguese explorer and the first European to reach India by sea rounding Cape of Good Hope in South Africa. 

 

N#6580

Gwyde

Above all, Portuguese coins have ships and famous captains having sailed the globe.

But this one has the ‘Vasco da Gama’ bridge in Lisbon over the Tejo. The name of the bridge doesn't come at a surprise: Vasco da Gama was a Portuguese explorer and the first European to reach India by sea rounding Cape of Good Hope in South Africa. 

 

N#6580

It's not the Salazar Bridge over the Tagus river?

 

 

I think you meant to post this one:  N#13044

rsirian1

It's not the Salazar Bridge over the Tagus river?

 

 

I think you meant to post this one:  N#13044

It does indeed say ‘Salazar Bridge’ named after the dictator in the 1960's.  I was convinced the bridge had been renamed. However, apparently a new one was constructed for the Lisbon world exhibition.

Gwyde

rsirian1

It's not the Salazar Bridge over the Tagus river?

 

 

I think you meant to post this one:  N#13044

It does indeed say ‘Salazar Bridge’ named after the dictator in the 1960's.  I was convinced the bridge had been renamed. However, apparently a new one was constructed for the Lisbon world exhibition.

Yes it was renamed. The comments on the page discuss that.  The primary reason to build the Vasco da Gama Bridge was to ease congestion on the Salazar Bridge.

rsirian1

Gwyde

rsirian1

It's not the Salazar Bridge over the Tagus river?

 

 

I think you meant to post this one:  N#13044

It does indeed say ‘Salazar Bridge’ named after the dictator in the 1960's.  I was convinced the bridge had been renamed. However, apparently a new one was constructed for the Lisbon world exhibition.

Yes it was renamed. The comments on the page discuss that.  The primary reason to build the Vasco da Gama Bridge was to ease congestion on the Salazar Bridge.

The Salazar bridge was renamed the 25 April bridge soon after the carnation revolution in 1974