Hobo nickels evolved during the great depression starting in the early 1930's, but people carving coins was nothing new and started earlier than 1913 as a sculptural art form using a readily available material; the soft metal of coins. At the time of the depression the indian head nickel was quite prevalent they were also quite thick and not layered with copper like many coins today. Many a man down on his luck took to carving the indian head either as a way to pass the time or as a way to trade for some food or maybe a place to spend the night. During this time period there was a surge in this unique piece of art history and thus it earned it's name "the hobo nickel". Today we are seeing a resurgence of Hobo nickels being made by modern artists using the same or more advanced techniques and collectors are eager to scoop them up. I happened to stumble across some pictures of hobo nickels on the internet around October of 2011 and decided to grab a nickel and have at it with my rotary tool to seel what I could do and an addiction was born. My wonderful friend Sergei a metal worker in the jewelery trade was kind enough to give me some of his old hand gravers, and other tools and materials to help me along in my interest. and so here you will see the fruits of my endeavors to date. I have never found an art form that I could turn my back on which is why I work at so many disiplines, but some grab hold more than others and this is one of them. so please come back from time to time and I will update my images as I create and you can witness where this new art takes me.
Peace ~ John
