Spitting on the handsel

A Liverpool correspondent told Hone in 1831 that nailing up horseshoes to keep out witches was the same in every county he had known. So was the habit among small traders and carriers of rubbing, or spitting on, the first money taken in the day, the handsel. The luck of the whole day’s selling was laid at the door of the first buyer, so that some would refuse to sell to certain people first thing, and would gladly take a lower price from someone thought lucky.