History : The hobo nickel is a sculptural art form involving the creative modification of small-denomination coins, essentially resulting in miniature bas reliefs. The US nickel coin was favored because of its size, thickness, and relative softness. However, the term hobo nickel is generic, as carvings have been made from many different denominations.

Commonly found during the Depression era, genuine hobo nickels are relatively rare finds today and are highly sought by some collectors. Some original hobo nickels sell in the 100-300-dollar range, but others have brought as much as $24,000. Modern knock-offs are out there, too, as are high-quality pieces from contemporary artists. Dating back as early as the 18th Century, America’s hobo subculture passed time by carving miniature designs into circulating coinage. Although the term Hobo Nickel is generic and can be used to identify many various denominations, more carvings were made from the American five cent piece than any other coins.

Oct 13, 2017 Commonly found during the Depression era, genuine hobo nickels are relatively rare finds today and are highly sought by some collectors. Some original hobo nickels sell in the 100-300-dollar range, but others have brought as much as $24,000. Modern knock-offs are out there, too, as are high-quality pieces from contemporary artists.
This scholarship was named in his honor as Archie was a champion of the Original Hobo Nickel Society (OHNS) and a strong campaigner for the art of carving nickels. The scholarship is to be awarded annually to one applicant meeting the qualifications as stated on the OHNS website where the application form can also be found.
A newer style of hobo nickels emerged from 1980 on – around the same time Del Romines published his book, Hobo Nickels. These newer pieces are exciting because they boast more detail and a wider variety of designs, thanks to newer tools and technology. But at the same time, they lack the unique character of the original hobo nickels.

The hobo nickel is a sculptural art form involving the creative modification of small-denomination coins, essentially resulting in miniature bas reliefs. The US nickel coin was favored because of its size, thickness, and relative softness. However, the term hobo nickel is generic, as carvings have been made from many different denominations.

Due to its low cost and portability, this medium was particularly popular among hobos, hence the name.

Early altered coins (1750s–1913)

The altering of coins dates to the 18th century or earlier. Beginning in the 1850s, the most common form of coin alteration was the “potty coin”, engraved on United States Seated Liberty coinage (half dime through trade dollar) and modifying Liberty into a figure sitting on a chamber pot. This time period was also the heyday of the love token, which was made by machine-smoothing a coin (usually silver) on one or both sides, then engraving it with initials, monograms, names, scenes, etc., often with an ornate border. Hundreds of thousands of coins were altered in this manner. They were often mounted on pins or incorporated into bracelets and necklaces. The love token fad faded out in the early 20th century; love tokens engraved on buffalo nickels are rare. During this time period, hobo-style coin alteration could be found outside the United States, primarily in Britain, France, and South Africa.

Buffalo nickels

When the Indian Head, or Buffalo nickel, was introduced in 1913, it became popular among coin engravers. The big Native American head was a radical departure from previous designs and would not be seen on any subsequent coins. The large, thick profile gave the artists a larger template to work on and allowed for finer detail.

On earlier coins, the head was much smaller in relation to the size of the coin. For example, on a Lincoln cent, the head covers about one-sixth of the area. On the Buffalo nickel, the Native American’s head occupies about five-sixths of the area. Moreover, the nickel is a larger coin. Large heads also adorn the Morgan dollar and the Columbian half dollar commemoratives of 1892-93, but these coins were rarely altered due to their high value.

Another factor contributing to the Buffalo nickel’s popularity was the sex of the subject. Nearly all previous coins had depicted women (Liberty head nickels, Indian head cents, Barber and Morgan silver dollars). A male head has larger, coarser features (nose, chin, brow) that can be altered in many ways. Even the buffalo on the reverse could be changed into another animal or a man with a backpack.

Classic old hobo nickels (1913–1940)

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.

Later old hobo nickels (1940–1980)

The 1940s, 1950s, 1960s and 1970s were a transitional period for hobo coin engravers, during which the Buffalo nickel was gradually replaced by the Jefferson nickel. Some veteran nickel carvers such as Bo and Bert continued making hobo nickels in the classic old style. Bo, in fact, did his best work in the early 1950s, when he carved many spectacular cameo portrait hobo nickels.

During this 40-year period, many new carvers appeared, and style and subject matter became decidedly modern. Subjects became more ethnically and socially diverse (e.g., a Chinese woman with triangular hat, hippies with long hair and glasses, men wearing floppy hats, etc.). Some of these new artists used new techniques such as power engravers, vibrating tools, and felt marker pens to add color to hair.

By the end of the 1970s, most Buffalo nickels had disappeared from circulation, and the majority of engravings were performed on worn coins. Bo, for example, was forced to obtain Buffalo nickels from coin dealers, some of whom commissioned carvings.

Modern hobo nickels (since 1980)

Many carvers who were active during the 1960s and 1970s continued carving Buffalo nickels into the 1980s. Their coins were altered using punches (dashes, dots, arcs, crescents, stars) and some carving of the profile. The area behind the head is usually rough from dressing with a power tool. They created standard design hobo nickels (derby and beard), as well as many modern subjects, such as occupational busts (fireman, railroad engineer, pizza chef), famous people (Uncle Sam, Einstein), hippies, and others.

A major event occurred in the early 1980s, demarcating the transition from “old” to “modern” hobo nickels. This was the publication of a series of articles by numismatist Del Romines on the subject of hobo nickels. He soon published the first book on the subject, Hobo Nickels (ASIN B0006R7SFW), in 1982. Both centered on Bo and his carvings.

This resulted in some new artists entering the field, most of whom simply copied Bo’s nickel artwork from the illustrations in Romines’s book. The two major Bo-style copycats were John Dorusa and Frank Brazzell. Together, they produced 20,000 or more modern carved nickels