This guys work showed up on Bored Panda. I've not heard of him.
But the work is pretty good and full of whimsy!
Check him out:
http://www.boredpanda.com/hobo-nickel-coin-carving-roman-booteen/
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I'm sorry for neglecting this blog. I've got another post written, but I wanted to add some pictures, but I've been too lazy to take and edit them.
Thursday, August 31, 2017
Monday, July 17, 2017
Post 1, The Introduction
In the last couple of years before I retired, I collected a modest number of hobo nickels.
What are hobo nickels? I hear you say.
Allow me to pass on the modest knowledge I've collected over the years.
In the depression and earlier when hobos toured the country, they needed a means to create wealth and wanted trade goods to exchange for food and money.
They carved buffalo nickels, usually with a pen knife. The early BNs were not particularly artistic. They frequently modified the Indian on the nickel into a hobo or other characters. Semitic nosed characters were quite common for some reason. Perhaps the less one had to change the Indian, the faster they could make them.
I have the impression that this was only a US art form, but I can't be sure.
As the depression ended, the art form dropped away too. Then in the 1980s the art form was again back into vogue a bit. And, more interestingly to me, some of the classically trained engravers got involved. Also international carvers are active now.
The HNs became quite the miniature art piece, in my humble opinion.
There is a web site with a nice example of the art. Hobonickels.org is the address. There are galleries of the old and new carvers. It's worth a look!
There was also an article in the Smithsonian magazine about the art form too. It does not look like the article is available on line. This is what got me started.
I've got maybe 25 nickels and I thought I'd take a picture of them and make a post for each.
I got the HNs mostly through ebay. There are daily auctions going on. The prices will run from $20 up to $2000 depending on who is doing the carving.
I collected about 13 from Thomas Howard. It was a nice balance between price and quality. Some of his coins were going for close to $1000. I inquired. It seems there were a couple of die hard collectors who bid themselves into a frenzy. Thomas creates coins in a variety of subjects, but when he uses a cat for the subject, the bidding gets crazy.
I'll start with the last coin I purchased in the next post.
I've stopped buying them as I retired and my spare change has dwindled! But I've got a book full of interesting art and it's fun to look at and I look forward to sharing them.
What are hobo nickels? I hear you say.
Allow me to pass on the modest knowledge I've collected over the years.
In the depression and earlier when hobos toured the country, they needed a means to create wealth and wanted trade goods to exchange for food and money.
They carved buffalo nickels, usually with a pen knife. The early BNs were not particularly artistic. They frequently modified the Indian on the nickel into a hobo or other characters. Semitic nosed characters were quite common for some reason. Perhaps the less one had to change the Indian, the faster they could make them.
I have the impression that this was only a US art form, but I can't be sure.
As the depression ended, the art form dropped away too. Then in the 1980s the art form was again back into vogue a bit. And, more interestingly to me, some of the classically trained engravers got involved. Also international carvers are active now.
The HNs became quite the miniature art piece, in my humble opinion.
There is a web site with a nice example of the art. Hobonickels.org is the address. There are galleries of the old and new carvers. It's worth a look!
There was also an article in the Smithsonian magazine about the art form too. It does not look like the article is available on line. This is what got me started.
I've got maybe 25 nickels and I thought I'd take a picture of them and make a post for each.
I got the HNs mostly through ebay. There are daily auctions going on. The prices will run from $20 up to $2000 depending on who is doing the carving.
I collected about 13 from Thomas Howard. It was a nice balance between price and quality. Some of his coins were going for close to $1000. I inquired. It seems there were a couple of die hard collectors who bid themselves into a frenzy. Thomas creates coins in a variety of subjects, but when he uses a cat for the subject, the bidding gets crazy.
I'll start with the last coin I purchased in the next post.
I've stopped buying them as I retired and my spare change has dwindled! But I've got a book full of interesting art and it's fun to look at and I look forward to sharing them.
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