A sailor had terrible misfortune, as he received a letter telling him that his wife had been stricken gravely ill. When he attempted to buy passage back home, he found that he was shy of a single coin, and thus he went to gamble. While gambling, he attempted to cheat, and when it was learned, he was dragged outside and beaten mercilessly. As his assailants were taking his last coin he cursed it with his final breath, vowing that those possessing the coin would watch their world fall to ashes. From then on, the coin took on a reddish hue.

An alternate tale of the coin speaks of an enchanting woman placing a chest of gold under the protection of a hedge knight who had sworn a vow to protect the wealth. The hedge knight was approached by a beggar, who only sought a single coin with which she might purchase food, and she told the knight of her woes. So moved was the knight to provide relief to the beggar that he took a single coin from the chest. At that moment the beggar was revealed to be the enchanting woman, and she laid a curse upon him that his soul would be forever bound to the coin so that he could forever witness the misfortune that surrounds those who possess it. To mark the curse, she cast a hint of red across the surface of the coin.

Over time, people have attempted to bury the coin, melt it down, or hide it beneath the waves, but it always seems to find it’s way back into circulation. Captains have tossed sailors overboard when they were found to be in possession of the coin, lest their fate doom the entire ship.