1890 Crichel House Cache "Raindrop Race Wager" Farthing

When I saw this coin on eBay, and read the story behind it, I just had to buy it.

It is an 1890 farthing which has been graded MS-65 Red/Brown by NGC. It is part of a hoard of 4,800 mint state 1890 farthings which were part of a bet in 1890 known as the "Crichel House Cache Raindrop Race Wager".

As the story goes, two gentlemen made a bet one rainy afternoon in 1890 about which of two raindrops on a window would reach the bottom of the window first.

They bet five pounds. The loser decided to pay off the wager by going to the bank and withdrawing 4,800 farthings. The coins ended up being kept, in their original paper wrappings, in the house for well over 120 years before being sold at auction recently.

Many of the remaining farthings have been graded by NGC. It seems that NGC gave them a bulk grade since all the coins I have seen offered online are graded "MS-65 RB".

However, the coin I received looks to be full red.

Here is an interesting article on the cache.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...-65-000.html

Next is a photo of the special NGC label for the coins:



And here is the lovely coin I received. It has a nicely rotated reverse.