By
James on September 28th, 2011 at 3:07 pm
Art,
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The term “Hobo Nickel” describes any small-denomination coin (though, normally soft nickels) that people carve to create miniature reliefs of…well, all sorts of things. It started sometime in the 18th century but continues to this day; There’s even an entire society dedicated to the art of nickel carving.
This all sounds stimulating, I know, but have a little faith. As with all types of art, something that seems simple in explanation is made beautiful and complicated in the hands of right artists. Check out a few of these “Skull Nickels“, a very surface view of just what carvers do with these “Hobo Nickels“.
Source – Colossal Art & Design
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First!
(Badass, by the way)
Watch out, we got a badass over here.
Cool! First time I’ve heard of this, very intriguing. Thanks!
That’s what i call scraping a few nickles toether1
This is what happens when people have way too much time on their hands.
No, this is what happens when imagination sparks…
No, this is what happens when creativity sparks…
Kale,
that tradition is sort of over.
ba dum tiss
I would love to see a video of the process
right.. what do you use to carve them out? i feel like i dont know what kind of a tool would scrape away metal like that without like… painstaking effort…
I want one!
You can actually find all sorts of Nickels like these on eBay. Not to say they’re cheap, but it is possible to obtain them.
i want this entire collection
@Jasmyn: a dremmel would make short work of the metal. the skill to do the art is a different thing.
these are awesome. I never heard of anything like this. You really showed me something new today. Now I’m going to obsess on this all night.
RE: I would love to see a video of the process
You never heard of You Tube?
Very cool. I’m glad there are people who are using their imagination to enrich the world.
Looks like Bertha reincarnated.
Very cool, though also illegal as it is considered defacing currency.
that is really cool.
i want one!!
wow that last one is amazing!
@pnutbuddah
There’s always one ass-hole who feels the need to point out the obvious law no one here fucking cares about.
Really cool. I would love to find one of these in my change. :P
RE: Very cool, though also illegal as it is considered defacing currency.
Lol literally defacing =P
[...] Read it here. [...]
Great idea for a post.Thank you!
This Makes Like a Good Friday Idea
[...] flyers from the heyday of British indie, at Transpontine / all about Skull nickels / stuff in slow motion / an exhaustive list of ‘Passage of Time’ Portrait Pictures and [...]
How incredible! I’ve never heard of this either- what a ridiculously interesting find.
This is really cool.
wow thats cool. i want one now.
The 2005 (third one down) is really interesting. You can see the mark of the carver on the bottom.
[...] http://weareatomik.com/2011/09/28/skull-nickels/ [...]
hello,
i think i have one of this home,
do you know if this coin have a value?
thnx
Very cool! Would love to find one in my change.
[...] Scraping Away the Skin on skulls [...]
ay idea why it’s always 1936 and 1937? awesome art!!
Dansmela,
I wondered the same thing about the dates and my guess is that it has to do with the “hobo nickel” name. 1935, 1936 towards the end of the depression. Lots of Hobos around then.
If someone else has another guess or knows for sure why there are so many 1935 & 1936 skull coins here, I would like to know.
Knots4Knives
If this is illegal and considered as defacing currency, wouldn’t coin presses be illegal also?
While this is widely thought to be the truth, I found this quote:
“Being a criminal statute, a fraudulent intent is required for violation of this law. Thus, the mere act of compressing coins into souvenirs is not illegal, without other factors being present.”
So, it’s only really illegal if the person doing so has some illegal, fraudulent intent in carving (or pressing) the coins.
I remember seeing these when I was a kid at my Grandma’s & Great – Grandparents. The hobo’s marked my grandma’s place as a friendly place to get a meal outside. Biggsville, and the house next door to Wyatt Earps Birthplace in Monmouth, Illinois. I wonder if my Grandma has all of them still. Looks like I am going to make a call. If I remember the stories they told me, they would come off the train tracks that ran behind both houses. They marked the door with coal if it was safe to knock, and when they left they would leave things like these behind thanking for the meal.
I’ve heard stories about this sort of “code” and I find it fascinating.
The first time I heard about it was in a story called “The Price” by Neil Gaiman, a short story I found in his book Smoke and Mirrors.
cool skull
[...] of hobo nickels by modern hobo carver Adam Leech. As in: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hobo_nickel http://weareatomik.com/2011/09/28/skull-nickels/ http://www.hobonickels.org/ [...]
This is really cool.
[...] Someone commissioned the piece below from Katie Cook, who can apparently make anything overflow with cute. Read More →… Silver Centurion Katie Can Draw Harry Potter Scraping Away the Skin on Skull Nickels — Atomik – We Find The Awesome For You [...]
Never heard of this before or have ever seen it before this. this is actually pretty cool. Going to look more into it.