Large bicycle, or "penny farthing." The bicycle has one large front wheel and one smaller wheel, with a peg above the latter to help mount the bike. There are no breaks.
Context
Bicycles of this type are often called “penny farthings” today, because the contrast between their two wheels evokes the size relationship between two English coins: the large penny and the much smaller farthing. Its designer was probably James Starley (1830–1881), a British inventor generally known as the father of the bicycle.
Acquisition
Accession
698
Source or Donor
Hazlett, Charles
Acquisition Method
Gift
Made/Created
Date made
1878
Dimensions
Dimension Description
Of the front wheel only
Height
46 in
Material
steel, rubber, Leather, Wood
Provenance
Notes
According to tradition, this bicycle with its 46-inch-high large wheel was the first bicycle ridden in Portsmouth. Its original owner and eventual donor, Charles Hazlett, was a prominent member of the New Hampshire Wheelmen, a group of aficionados who enjoyed this new mode of transportation in the 1870s.
