http://www.numismaster.com/ta/numis/Article.jsp?ad=article&ArticleId=25236 A $170,000 deal conducted on the floor of the American Numismatic Association’s National Money Show May 10-12 in Denver helped make the show a big winner for former ANA President Bob Campbell and his firm, All About Coins, Inc., of Salt Lake City. Campbell sold a 218-piece collection of hobo nickels to Candace DeMarco Kagin of Tiburon, Calif. This collection of Buffalo nickels turned into artwork by the deft talents of Depression-era artists often known simply by their first names, such as Bert and Bo, had been assembled by Larry Frost of Park City, Utah. Kagin said she was adding the coins to her own collection....
So the $325 I paid Bob Campbell for two coins was not his biggest deal of the show. I wish he had shown me the Hobo Nickel collection (not that I could afford it).
Basically the same way you identify any original work. The characteristics of the piece are unique to the person who created them.
I shot a good size group of these coins, there were pretty cool. The table next to me had someone who carves nickels and he was really drooling over them. There was a wide variety of characters in the group.
