A Chelsea reader sent Hone a charm he called well known and almost universal in former days, handed down by grandmothers. At the first sight of the first new moon of the new year, you put a hand in your pocket, shut your eyes and turned the smallest silver coin you had upside down, and your pocket would never be empty all year. If you missed the first sight of that moon, the charm could still be worked at a later new moon, but then it held good for that month only.
Turning Money at the New Moon
Every new moon
Lore and belief
on the first glance you take at "pale Luna's silvery crest" in the western sky, put your hand in your pocket, shut your eyes, and turn the smallest piece of silver coin you possess upside down
From Hone's Every-Day Book, vol. 2, cols. 43-44. Read the original
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