'I went treasure hunting in river and found Victorian time capsule from London'

A woman who went hunting for treasure in a river discovered a bizarre "time capsule" from Victorian London.

Jane Eastman (@myordinarytreasure on Instagram), whose passion is searching the rivers and streams in the south of England for coins and artefacts of eras gone by, explained how she doesn't plan on opening it any time soon.

Sharing footage of her foray into the river, Jane could be seen dragging her rake to uncover a green glass bottle embedded in the mud. "This is freaky," she said. "It looks like a jar that's full of pickles." After unearthing it successfully, she added: "That's got to be the weirdest thing I've ever seen."

READ MORE: Tired London market that's been going for 854 years moves closer to revival as new operator chosen

READ MORE: The London borough where the number of second homes has more than doubled

After returning home and getting dry, Jane noted on closer inspection that the bottle's lid includes the inscription "W&D Harvest Dowgate Dock London".

She wrote in her post: "120+ year old bottle of pickles 'fresh' from the river! Well, you've got to love a time capsule, but I certainly wouldn't have expected it to be in the form of a 120-odd-year-old jar of pickles, discovered completely intact, still corked and with embossed topper.

"The company name is W&D Harvest of Dowgate Dock, Upper Thames Street, London and although I can't find the exact trading dates, I have found record of William Harvest at this address listed as a Spice Dealer and Salterer in the 1870s and then listed as W&D, still trading in 1910.

"The bottle itself is aqua glass with applied lip, it's certainly not a bottle type I would ever have associated with pickles, and I now understand why those exceptionally long pickle forks were so popular, back in the day. Other finds in this little spot would point to a date of around 1890-1910! Now I am going to seal the top with wax... and never ever be tempted to open it."

One of Jane's 335,000 followers was left pondering: "Are 100-year-old pickles in pickle juice kept at a cold temperature still edible? They look good." Another explained: "What's neat is that it could very well be perfectly sealed as the pickles have not decomposed but the brine escaped through the glass due to the liquid nature of soda glass."

A third added: "Look at them all perfectly arranged. How did they get packed in there like that?! Would be so tempted to give them a whiff but probably wise never to open them… I instantly regretted opening a cream pot river find once as it sprayed its acrid boron cream all over me."