Show Your Hobo Nickels & Love Tokens Thread.....

JBEXPRESS

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Thought It would be cool to start a thread of Hobo nickels and Love tokens... If you are interested please feel free to post your pictures of ones you have made OR Found.. ( I know some of you have found love tokens )..

Here is My recent one I just made Yesterday. Its A Classic Hobo with a hat and beard with a tie on a 1936 Buffalo Nickel.. Carved By JB Coin #32
 

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Just made this one on lunch..
 

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Here is another I carved tonight... Indian Skull..
 

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don't have any and have never tried to do one but have seen some cool ones. are there any dates or ones that work better to carve than others??
 
don't have any and have never tried to do one but have seen some cool ones. are there any dates or ones that work better to carve than others??

Well any will work to carve on, The better the coin the better the collectors will want and pay more.. But starting out I would stick to non date Buffs or the newer Nickels... Good Coins would be Full date Buffs and for some reason the 2005 P Bison Nickels... ( the last skull I did on the 2005 nickel sold for $17 ) Not bad for a coin that is 5 cents...
 
Those are great JB. I have been looking for hobo nickels for years and no luck. Searched old tracks and even an old hobo camp and found NADA! Love tokens on the other hand...
 
I tried one with a Dremel and it is pathetic, I gotta take a picture and put it on here for laughs:lol:
 
I tried one with a Dremel and it is pathetic, I gotta take a picture and put it on here for laughs:lol:

HAHA :laughing: That would be great.. Please show us!! Im using a Dremel right now also.. saving up to buy the big boy toys now.. Lindsey Airgraver Set up.. Gonna run me about 2K! :shock:
 
How difficult is it to carve these? I love hobo nickels but i have ZERO artistic ability. My woman on the other hand is a phenomenal artist and i'm thinking i'm gonna lock her in the basement with a bucket of buffs and an engraving kit LOL



Hey wait a minute. Are you the guy on ebay that sells all the hobo nickels by "JB"????
 
How difficult is it to carve these? I love hobo nickels but i have ZERO artistic ability. My woman on the other hand is a phenomenal artist and i'm thinking i'm gonna lock her in the basement with a bucket of buffs and an engraving kit LOL



Hey wait a minute. Are you the guy on ebay that sells all the hobo nickels by "JB"????

It depends on the person... some just dont know how to hold a dremel and control it. Has the things going all over the place. lol But it gets easier as you practice more.. And Yes sir thats me on Ebay selling them as JB...

I just became a member yesterday of the ORIGINAL HOBO NICKEL SOCIETY.. I got a member # Im going to start putting on them along with the coin # Im on..
 
Another skull... 2005 p bison nickel.
 

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I just looked these hobo nickels up on ebay, man some of them sell for a few hundred $... Can make some money if you have the artistic touch (which I do not...).
 
I just looked these hobo nickels up on ebay, man some of them sell for a few hundred $... Can make some money if you have the artistic touch (which I do not...).

Yup! You sure can!! Well the ones that go for a lot are well known artists in the hobo nickel field... I have recently became a member of the OHNS and am trying to get my name out there as well. But yeah there is a big collectors market for Hobo Nickels & Love Tokens... :D
 
It looks like a lit of the expensive ones are hand carved, that must be a pain in the A...
 
It looks like a lit of the expensive ones are hand carved, that must be a pain in the A...

Well hand carved to an extent.. There is less effort with a power engraver( Lindsey Engraver ). Hand pushing with your own push power and then hand pushing with help of machine power is way different. Check out these prices on certain tools. And in order for them to work you need to have everything to make it run.

So probably gonna run ya about $2,500 -$3000 at the end for a decent set up. The hand piece alone is about $1k. then you need an air compressor, air tank, regulator, foot pedal, sharpening system and templates, Blank Gravers, microscopes, Engraving vise, Nickel holder, and whatever other little tools..

http://www.airgraver.com/Hand_Engraving_Tools_Overview.htm
 
Well hand carved to an extent.. There is less effort with a power engraver( Lindsey Engraver ). Hand pushing with your own push power and then hand pushing with help of machine power is way different. Check out these prices on certain tools. And in order for them to work you need to have everything to make it run.

So probably gonna run ya about $2,500 -$3000 at the end for a decent set up. The hand piece alone is about $1k. then you need an air compressor, air tank, regulator, foot pedal, sharpening system and templates, Blank Gravers, microscopes, Engraving vise, Nickel holder, and whatever other little tools..

http://www.airgraver.com/Hand_Engraving_Tools_Overview.htm

Ouch... yeah I would just use a dremel, then chisel/tiny files to clean up the dremel marks. :lol: Much more affordable.

The dremel marks look really good on some pieces, particularly the skull/spooky/ghostly ones. You took advantage of it real well in that last one, the 2005 nickel.
 
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