...hobo nickels in the 1910s and 1920s
Posted on 09/03/2013 5:55:56 PM PDT by virgil283
"Many talented coin engravers, as well as newcomers, started creating hobo nickels in 1913, when the Buffalo nickel entered circulation. This accounts for the quality and variety of engraving styles found on carved 1913 nickels. More classic old hobo nickels were made from 1913-dated nickels than any other pre-1930s date. Many artists made hobo nickels in the 1910s and 1920s, with new artists joining in as the years went by. The 1930s saw many talented artists adopting the medium. Bertram Wiegand, known almost exclusively as Bert, began carving nickels in the teens, and his student George Washington Hughes, known as Bo, began carving in the late teens (and up to 1980). During this period, Buffalo nickels were the most common nickels in circulation." -- La Wik
(Excerpt) Read more at americandigest.org ...
...hobo nickels in the 1910s and 1920s
WOW!!!
Never heard of these! Awesome......
Quite interesting .. thanks !
what are those? real nickels that have been modified?
I think #’s 2,3,5, and 6 were all created by the same person
Pretty cool.
I always wanted to try my hand at engraving.
The second from the left on the bottom has a guy takin a dump. LOL
I have heard of Hobo nickels but never seen any before. Very cool.
When I was a kid growing up in the 50s I can recall several times when other kids used “slugs” to operate vending machines. I never did figure out how they made them but tried using the cutouts from electrical wiring boxes with no success.
Began the year of the Fed. Interesting.
Only one nickel pictured is from 1927. All of the rest date from 1934 through 1938.
Thanks for this post. I’ve never heard of this before. Interesting stuff. You learn something new everyday at FR.
***When I was a kid growing up in the 50s I can recall several times when other kids used “slugs” to operate vending machines.***
I remember kids using a Mexican coin the size of a quarter, but not the value of a quarter.
They would place this coin in a soda vending machine, get the ten cent soda, and get a dime and nickle back.
The ones I saw them using looked like the circular knock outs from those circuit boxes, They may have weighed them and either grinding them down etc. to make the weigh the same.
Coin operated devices are probably much mor difficult to fool today.
Awesome! These guys have more talent in their little pinky than I’ve got I’m my whole pinky.
I’ve never heard of them before, either.
Surprising, since my Grandpa, born in 1912 was an avid collector.
(wanted to say “herd of them” but someone would have told me about my spelling....)
http://www.hobonickels.org/alpert05.htm
I’ve never seen these before, but they certainly ARE art and have value, if not TRULY “numismatic” value. Buffalo nickels were probably the best material to work with, because of the metal content AND because those coins were fairly simple and high-relief. Unfortunately, they weren’t designed for circulation very well, and wore out quickly. Buffalo nickels with worn-out dates and virtually no features other than two lumps on the front and back are pretty common.
There are hundreds of these on ebay, most look like modern carvings though.
Kinda have a strong Dia del Muerte vibe to them.
***
I got that feeling, as well.
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