How Evil Is It To Hobo Nickel

Hobo nickels were made when the buffalos were still circulating, so not any more evil then carving up a typical Jeff nickel today.

You have to hope the coin was only a year or two old when it was carved or had a huge scratch in the bison if you're a collector. When these were first carved, it was just a Nickel. If it's done by some one who does it now as a "Pro-Hobo" carver, I can see why they would use what they wanted. They don't see it as ruining a coin, they just want to start with a nice coin as a canvas. I'm sure they just look at the coin and cost as a part of the art.

I make rings out of coins. I use the best looking coin I can find to start with, but I can find a coin someone else damaged. I have Large Cents, SLQs, 2 Cent, Halves and even a few Morgans, but they were all damaged when I bought them. People like to damage coins. I don't. So if I need a certain date, I scan ebay for a "holed" coin. Lots of them out there and most of them are cheap.

from an artist point of view I really like some of the Hobo Nickels. As a collector I can understand how some people do not like them though, so its really a double edged sword for me. Most people like the classic designs that the real hobo's made while riding the rails but I lean towards the newer ones that are made with modern tools and look really nice. I guess it really doesn't bother me that much because I do not like Buffalo nickels all that well but I have also seen Morgans done this way and liked them as well so the series of coin has no bearing whether I like it or not

That's almost as sad as the elongated 1885 V nickel from the 1892 Columbian Expo that was on ebay a year or so ago.

Some people just buy no date Buffalos and use those.