4/1/2023 0 Comments Hobo nickelWe are a family-owned business that was first established in 1979 and is now located in West Seattle, Bellevue and Lynnwood. West Seattle Coins and Bellevue Rare Coins specializes in gold buying and dealing in rare coins. It is dedicated to preserving the popularity of this uniquely American folk art, ensuring that the legacy of men such as Bo and Bert lives on. To safeguard the memory of hobo nickels, the Original Hobo Nickel Society was formed. Some have sold for as much as $5,000, although most that sell at auction or coin conventions warrant $100 to $300. Today, hobo nickels are in high demand among collectors. To numismatists, however, these one-of-a-kind, rare works of art are more special than gold. Therefore, hobo nickels are technically worth nothing. Treasury Department officially recognizes hobo nickels as former legal tender mutilated beyond recognition. Although Bo worked through the pain, still producing coins through the ’40s and ’50s, the tragic slip of the chisel in 1957 forever injured his hand - and his ability to do the work that he loved came to an end. The years of rigorous manual labor Bo often worked to survive the poverty and hunger of the Great Depression rendered his hands stiff and damaged. Unfortunately, life as a hobo eventually took its toll on Bo’s hands. Bert took Bo under his wing, and in a largely anonymous community of drifters, affectionately known as “hobos,” the two carved their way into numismatic history. Along the Gulf, Mobile and Ohio railroad lines, Bo met Bertram “Bert” Wiegand, a fellow drifter and the man who introduced him to the art of hobo nickel carving. He left his home and his 11 siblings in his early teens, entering a world of nomadic freedom riding the rails. George Washington “Bo” Hughes was born in Mississippi just before the beginning of the twentieth century. Bo Hughes is remembered as one of the country’s most talented carvers, a pioneer in the hobo nickel community. Many would pass the time carving intricate designs on coins, hoping to trade or sell their small, folk art masterpieces for food or shelter. With millions of people out of work and without prospects in their hometowns, many joined the drifter community, hoping to find work crisscrossing the continent along the railway lines. The Great Depression largely defined the hobo nickel phenomenon. And the work of Bo Hughes, one of the best-known hobo nickel carvers, was never the same. The chisel slipped, injuring one of his hands.
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