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Fountains and ponds have become common choices of decoration to complement architecture or places that invoke an atmosphere of leisure.  While walking in a park, a person might hear the refreshing sounds of running water, and approach a fountain to find glistening tokens covering the surface beneath the water.  It is almost impossible now, to find a fountain, well, or pond without coins on the bottom. Virtually any pool made accessible to the public qualifies as a wishing well.  The coins found in wishing wells are vestiges of the desires of patrons who can only hope that their wishes may come true.  Wishes can be vague or general fortunes such as happiness, wealth, and love.  They may also be extremely personal desires, such as an intimate request for a loved one to recover from illness. Thus, throwing a coin into a volume of water while making a wish has become a common practice.

Although the exact origins of this practice are unknown, offering money to water is an old tradition that can be dated back to Roman-British and Celtic mythology.  Since then, the tradition of making a wish with a coin has been passed down through generations by socialization, evolving from a religious ritual into a fun, yet superstitious, cultural practice. 

An example of a historical wishing well could be found in the county of Northumberland, located in the northeastern tip of England, which has a very famous well that was used to make offerings to the Roman Britain and Celtic goddess Coventina.  The archeological discovery of Coventina’s Well unearthed thousands of coins from different eras of the Roman Empire.  About 16,000 coins in all were discovered in this well, including coins issued between the first and fifth centuries.  A great range of coinage implies that people have been adding coins to the well for many generations.  Because the well was found among temple remains, the coins were believed to be religious offerings made to the goddess Coventina.  Most of the coins found in Coventina’s Well were “low denomination bronze issues”.

People who offered coins to the well chose coins that were either worth very little or nothing at all.  This suggests that the economic exchange value of the coin is not equal to the value the coin had as a gift to a divine power. 
Similar practices of offering to wells carried on in Celtic tradition as people continued to offer pins, buttons, coins, as well as pieces of clothing so that they might receive good health in return.  The Well of Pen Rhys in Oxford was a popular well in the late 1800’s and was visited by people who believed that the waters of the well had healing powers.  In hope to heal a wound or a disease, it was customary to tie a piece of clothing onto a branch of a nearby tree and also throw a pin, button, or coin into the well.

The pieces of clothing were believed to be a “vehicle of the disease” so that the person could be cured, while “the article thrown into the well as the more special means of establishing a beneficial relation with the well divinity” .  Using small tokens in order to establish a relationship with a higher power is a practice similar to the historical practices of Coventina’s Well.  The fact that the tokens degraded to pins and buttons (considered worthless in exchange value compared to money) reaffirms the notion that the actual exchange value of the money was not significant.  Also, in contrast to Coventina’s Well, people visiting the Well of Pen Rhys were not acknowledging a specific divinity, but a vague notion of a supernatural power.  People who came to the Well of Pen Rhys did not come to the well believing that a specific god or goddess would answer their plea; nevertheless, they hoped to be cured by offering clothing and a token to the well. 

Since then, much of the history of wishing wells has been forgotten, making people unaware of the origins or purpose of the very practice they keep alive.  Generally, people do not know where the practice came from but in some cases were taught about wishing wells from their parents, from movies, or by imitation.  For example, a woman in an interview remembered that she was taught by her mother to throw coins into fountains as a child.  In other cases, however, people could not remember how they learned to wish with coins, but knew that their parents did not teach them the practice.  The wishing well concept also permeates society through repeated exposure in media and public venues.  In one interview, a couple referred to the popular Disney movie Snow White, since the movie included a scene with the main character wishing beside a well.  Seeing the practice in a movie or watching other people make wishes by wishing wells causes other people to take part in the practice as well.

Similar to old traditions of wishing wells, the broad belief of a higher power is a concept that has been carried into present wishing well practices. Though people are usually unaware of the reasons why they make wishes in wishing wells, the practice may be interpreted as a form of supernatural investment in which present offering will be repaid later at appropriate and fortuitous occasions.  Wishing wells are cultural expressions of a belief in magic and the ability to control fate through the supernatural.  This notion is predicated on the idea that the “outcome of events and objects are influenced by various thoughts (e.g. wishes) and interactions with the physical environment” .  One might feel that it is more probable for something favorable to happen if he or she actually makes a wish by throwing a coin into the well.  Also, many people make wishes for the enjoyment of possibility.  The act of tossing coins in wishing wells extends beyond its entertainment value to encompass a subtle and sophisticated doctrine of superstition. 

Although these expressions may be from the older traditions of wishing wells, these acts should in no way be considered wasteful, primitive, or inane.  Rather, wishing wells are a method through which people exercise hope, especially against events whose desired outcomes are unlikely or uncertain .  The ability to hope is a hallmark of a healthy personality because it allows individuals to reconcile the opposing forces of reality and want.  Hope also creates unique identities and personal histories by defining life through experiences of triumph and failure .  In the case for wishing wells, hope is expressed by offering money.  Money is not an empirical object of monetary value, but a medium instilled with systems of meanings and symbols.  It can be apportioned for use with significant social relevance and minimal economic consequence.  A number of people believe that it does not matter whether a penny or a quarter is used to make a wish.  Similar to the old practices of Coventina’s Well, people are not investing much money into their wishes (observed by low denomination coins in the well) because they did not believe that the economic value is as relevant as the symbolic value of their offering.  People exchange money for wishes because they believe that such an action gives them some control over their lives amidst the myriad infinity of things that may happen.

 While the value of the coin encompasses a relationship with a higher power, the intrinsic worth still remains, especially for the owner of the well, pond or fountain.  Once thrown into the well and the wisher departs, the coins used to make the wish reclaims monetary exchange value.  The money can be appraised simultaneously as a fixed denomination of currency as well as a good proffered in exorbitant amounts .  Wishing well money retains its monetary value even after cast—the fact that the coin was tossed into the water does not change its intrinsic worth.  Ten dollars of wishing well money still purchases only ten dollars worth of exchanged goods or services.  When a well or fountain is cleaned, the coins at the bottom are also collected.  This is how wishing wells constitute a form of spatial earmarking. Spatial earmarking is the practice by which money is segregated for specific purposes .  Such money is usually placed within different containers so that it can be easily identified and not accidentally spent for other, more frivolous purposes.  Money thrown into wishing wells becomes earmarked once it is intentionally tossed into the wells’ waters.  Well owners later collect the money and usually appropriate it to charity.