Exceptional lottery ticket neatly signed at the conclusion in ink, "G:o Washington," one page, 5.5 x 3.5, for the "Mountain Road Lottery" held in 1768." In full: "This ticket [No. 360] shall entitle the Possessor to whatever Prize may happen to be drawn against it's Number in the Mountain Road Lottery." These lottery tickets were printed several at a time on larger sheets before being cut; this rather rare example, from the bottom of one such sheet, has a considerably larger lower border than typically seen. In very good to fine condition, with separation along the central horizontal fold.
With Captain Thomas Bullitt and others, Washington conceived a lottery as a way to raise funds to build a road through the Allegheny Mountains in Virginia and to construct a resort in the area now known as The Homestead, Hot Springs, Virginia. Owing to competition from other lotteries, the Mountain Road Lottery failed, and King George III then banned all lotteries in 1769. Although 6,000 of these lottery tickets were originally slated to be sold, only about 25 are known to exist today. A scarce and supremely desirable format for Washington's autograph.
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