Options
Help with a hobo??
COINS MAKE CENTS
Posts: 1,861 ✭✭✭✭✭
Can anyone help me figure out if this is an older hobo nickel or was done more recently? From what I have understood and learned from other dealers, older hobo nickels are worth more and more desirable then ones that have been recently carved.....
Is there a "price guide" for hobo nickels? 
2
Comments
Hobo nickels are sort of a one-off thing, so I am not sure how a price guide would work. You could certainly have a reference book with prices realized for specific pieces.
Yours looks newish to me. I am not an expert on these but here is what I see:
The host coin is a well worn 1935 nickel, so it would have been done at least a couple or few decades after then. That puts it past the era of the original hobo nickels.
Yours is signed, which is good, especially if you know who JA is.
The initials were stamped with a vintage/older set of punches, but of course those are still around (I have a set). The word HOBO seems to possibly have been done with a somewhat newer set.
It seems that a combination of simple chisel marks and maybe a power rotary tool was used to create the obverse design.
It isn't the best nor the worst I've seen.
I do not collect these but here is a web site on Hobo Nickels. Maybe you can find the artist and go from there.
http://www.hobonickels.org/showcase.htm
A more recent carving without much fine details.
That's amazing!!! I'm pretty sure the Carver of my hobo nickel is the first one listed at the top of the site.
It says she is the only known female early modern Carver. She signed her work with a punched j.a.. very cool thanks so much for that site. Have book marked it for future reference
HAPPY COLLECTING
I've seen some similar selling for $4 @. I even bought two.
Would an older Hobo nickel actually have the word HOBO carved into it?
J. Allen, of Rochester, N. Y., is the only known female Early Modern hobo nickel artist. She began creating hobo nickels in 1982 and is still active. She learned the craft from her friend J. Press (see above), and their workmanship is very similar. J.Allen uses hand-held gravers, and punches (arcs, circles, stars, dashes, etc.), to create her hobo nickels. She makes many designs, which include clowns, bikers, firemen, pirates, RR engineers, Santas, Uncle Sam, Einstein, etc. It takes her about one hour to make each hobo nickel. She signs her works “J. ALLEN” which is counterstamped on the buffalo; others are signed “JA”, and some were not signed. Some unsigned pieces have a rough field behind the head.
1982 would be a modern carving and not worth as much as carvings from 30 years prior.
"SAVE THE NICKELS CAMPAIGN!"
IMO, this cannot be the work of any skilled carver under eighty years old. Knowledge is power. I'll get a punch set ("J" & "A") and make some crude fakes.
Coin make sense that’s awesome you were able to identify the maker! I tried looking a bit but honestly did not know where to start. Sort of like a needle in a haystack. I did not realize there were so many different makers of the Hobo nickel.
Where did you find that nickel? Was it in change or an auction? Or a shop? Neat find and cool that you traced the artist....more of a modern hobo nickel, but still a great find...and attributable to an artist. Cheers, RickO