How to Crash Your Pennyfarthing

So, this isn't really a bike history blog, but being a historian in "real" life, I can't help but be drawn to bicycling history. Today, the Blog Gods (Bloggods?) smiled upon me with a happy coincidence. Last night, I saw this image of Pennyfarthing trick-riding at BibliOdyssey, which made me smile:

And then this morning, I saw this video posted at The Bicycle Diaries, which brought history to life:

Pennyfarthing Crash

Taken together, I suppose they're a cautionary tale against thinking that our early cycling forefathers were a bunch of dandies and fops. No sir, they were hard-core.

Pennyfarthing Help

I received this email from Nicky last week, and since I don't know anything about pennyfarthings, original or reproduction, I'm posting it here to see if anyone can offer any help. Just leave a note in the comments if you can help, or if you can suggest a resource that might help Nicky.

I couldn’t resist a reproduction pennyfarthing about 17 years ago and bought it. Since then I have been told it is likely to be a limited edition reproduction constructed during the 1960s by Raleigh. Unfortunately, Raleigh had no archive records at that point and I’m wondering if you are aware of anything that might prove or disprove this. I can send you some more pics if that helps. It isn’t in pristine condition as it has been stored in a garage before I got it and since, but is sturdy and rideable!