I'm waiting on this beauty! I was finally able to loosen Andrews grip on it.. I've been working him for like 6 months!!!
Pretty excited as I await my first hobo coin. Decided to go with a coin by James Boudreau who makes the changes through hand carving on the original coins and is a very well regarded artist. It was hard to pick the one I wanted from his site but rather liked this one as it's on quarter which will be a good size. The Susan Anthony dollar..and the traditional buffalo nickel were also tempting....
A Chinese clone Atra handle. I keep noticing the generic TracII/Atra carts at the supermarket and hearing good things, so I decided to plunk down on a handle. $0.75 US shipped, so nothing really lost.
Thanks, apparently he found a couple of Susan B coins so I swapped my order to one of those as I think its one of his best:
I've got a whole bunch of Susan B coins. I was stationed in Germany back in the 80s. Since no one in the States wanted the coin the government shipped them all overseas and gave them out to the military as change when you shopped at the Commissary and PX.
I remember having to get some stamps at the post office, shortly after they came out, I used the vending machine, and used a twenty. The machine said out of the stamps I needed, so it spit out twenty of those Susan B Anthony coins. I was Pissed off.
Interesting! It had a rather short run (four years - 1979-1981 and then a run in 1999) and yeah, it seemed like the coin did not do very well at all. Well, at least it looks, to me, pretty neat with the additional carving
Two dollar bills were done much the same. Issued heavily to Service Members so the local shops would know where their sales were coming from. I've seen flea market vendors "selling" $2's for three dollars. Most banks have them if you ask.
Ah - but twice the value - yeah I can see that being an issue. It's kinda cool that an art form that started in the 17th century has been kept alive into our days. It's also interesting that as these alterations to coins are actually not illegal (I thought they were myself) - as they alterations are not made "with a fraudulent intent". It's the same wording that makes those 'penny smashing machines' sold at tourist spots legal as well Btw, if anyone's curious about the handcarving process of these hobo coins here's some video's by James (JB) himself showing how he does it; (Makes me wish I has some skill in that area....) https://www.instagram.com/p/BPF9Q-7BipH/?taken-by=jbs_creations https://www.instagram.com/p/BPDWwIZBbAd/?taken-by=jbs_creations https://www.instagram.com/p/BO0komKBJ-7/?taken-by=jbs_creations
Yup! When I was at Ft Bragg North Carolina back in the 70s some of the local shops were discriminating against service members. The Post Commander (we still got paid in cash each month back then) paid everyone in $2 bills. Within a matter of days - the Mayor called to apologize and it never happened again. HOOAH! I still see them often here in the Puget Sound area of Washington State. When you take the ferry (largest ferry system in the world) they pay you $2 bills as change along with 50 cent pieces. They are still out there.
Those local businesses figured out which side their bread was buttered on. Sometimes I'll get a handful of $2's just to use as spending money (Debit cards have almost replaced cash). It's fun watching the cashiers reaction, and then trying to figure out where in the cash drawer to put the odd bills. Many have "bought" them with cash from their pocket.
They remind me of some silver bullion coins I was collecting. The bullion isn't nearly as nice artwork, but I am guessing that's where the mint got the idea??
