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| A mermaid admiring Svalbard at sunrise, by Fridtjof Nansen. |
At our Guildhall on Monday, a person made his appearance to prefer some complaint against the police, by whom a relative of his, the exhibitor of a mermaid and a merman in this city during the week, had been taken into custody and detained until he consented to repay half-a-crown to a person who swore that such a piece was given in mistake for a penny for witnessing the interesting exhibition.
The magistrates expressed their willingness to hear any complaint, but observed that the man was guilty of an act of vagrancy and swindling in exhibiting something for a creature which he knew had no real existence.
The complainant, who seemed to believe in the reality of the fabled syren, then left the hall very dissatisfied with the police.
A gentleman present observed that the article, which appeared to be partly formed of wax, was a very clumsy deception.
Hereford Journal, Wednesday 17th May 1837.
It seems that enterprising people were quite happy to make some money out of the mermaid craze, even if their creative efforts weren't very good. Perhaps they hoped mermaid-hunters in the provinces wouldn't be as fussy as those in London.
A half crown and a penny were similar size I think, but surely different colours. Besides, surely you have to be careful what you're handing out (the half crown being worth 30x the penny).
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