remembered to take some pictures of the steps in carving a hobo nickel...first i carved a crude outline of the eagle, next i started adding detail, next i smoothed field, added more fine detail ,etc and aged carving out...
tools i use the same tools as knife and gun engravers use, mostly hand gravers, ball vise and microscope...
I have been told that a few of the firearms engravers have started using laser. Do you know any body doing nickels by this means?
laser i know the top 6 or 7 modern day hobo nickel carvers and we all have our secrets on carving, but i,m 100% sure none of them are using a laser...i,ve seen a few new hobo nickel sellers on ebay the last 3 or 4 years that probably was done by laser or pressed out, they looked good, but there was something not right....the first 2 or 3 sold for a high dollar and then they dropped off...[ps] a lot of times our highly detailed carvings take 30 to 40 hours to carve, the pattern dollar carvings i do take 15 to 20 hours to do...
Sorry but I don't think your 2 dollars can come close to what his coins sell for on Ebay. Look them up and I bet youd be suprised at the going price. I definately was. Man thats one of the best I've seen yet! I bet the eagle goes for a mighty bit more than your last couple.
Thank you Bill for the information. I can only imagine the amount of stress and strain it would require to work under magnification for the number of hours required to produce such a piece of art. My hat is off to you for your efforts and products.
carving coins my carvings are signed [ deeply engraved ] with a z for billzach and numbered,,,also each carving is recorded by number and picture of carving on cd rom..
I asked my local today if he has ever delt in hobos. He said he did untill he ended up with a lot of repoductions and copies. Its reassuring to hear that there exists definative proof of which of your are real.
carving coins old hobo nickels carved by bo or bert bring a high dollar, but the last 5 years the highly detailed modern day carvings are bringing more than the old detailed ones..we,ve had some modern day carvings to bring $2000 at our o.h.n.s. hobo nickel auction at the fun show...
carving coins forgot to mention it, but there was a old double sided carved hobo nickel of a old woman on obverse and a devil like dog on reverse that sold for $3900 about 2 years ago in a private sale, so looking for hobo nickels could be quite rewarding at flea markets and such...
