Hobo nickel

The hobo nickel is a sculptural art form involving the creative modification of small-denomination coins, resulting in miniature bas reliefs.

This period was also the heyday of the love token, which was made by machine-smoothing a coin (usually a silver one, such as a Morgan dollar) on one or both sides, then engraving it with initials, monograms, names, scenes, etc., often with an ornate border.

The love-token fad waned in the early 20th century; love tokens engraved on buffalo nickels are rare.

During this period, hobo-style coin alteration also occurred outside the United States, primarily in Britain, France, and South Africa.

The large, thick profile gave the artists a larger template to work on and allowed for finer detail.

Some of these new artists used new techniques such as power engravers, vibrating tools, and felt marker pens to add color to hair.

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, Albert Einstein), hippies, and others.

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.

Pressure from prominent hobo nickel collectors such as Bill Fivaz convinced Dorusa to stop carving "GH" and put his own initials or name on his works.

Dorusa and Brazzell also produced original works, featuring non-traditional subject matter (conquistadors, Dick Tracy, skulls, etc.).

The large number of Bo copies led many collectors to label all modern carved nickels as "Neo-Bo's", a term no longer in use.

Most nickel carvers of the 1980s to mid-1990s are regarded by collectors as mediocre at best, but circa 1995, Ron Landis, an engraver in Arkansas, began creating superior quality carvings.

The others are Sonny Carpenter, and Bill Jameson (Billzach), All four are considered superior carvers, and ground breakers that inspired the current renaissance.