As hobo nickels gain in popularity, so too is somethreat of unscrupulous people selling knockoffs.That very thing happened in the last months of 2016.A few "hobo nickels" coming out of China hit themarket and they were direct copies of carvings madeby some talented artists. I first recognized a designthat Paolo Curcio had done on an off center penny. Iemailed a few OHNS board members to alert themand then I posted listings from two separate sellers onour Facebook page. I was hoping that any of thebidders on the copies would be able to retract bids, orstop bidding further, or complain to eBay. Enoughcomplaints were filed that the listings were ended butthen the items were relisted. I have watched one ofthe sellers and there has not been any recent activityfrom that seller but there are new sellers now too.

The first listings were misleading and did not statethat they were cast or struck copies. Also, imageswere pirated without permission from the artists.Recently I noticed more of these same copies beingsold from a St. Louis, MO address. They are under adifferent account than the ones from China. In thetitle of these newer listings, there is no notation ofthem being copies or token issues but if one were toread down to the description part, it does describethat they are pressed coins. This is a perfect exampleof why it is important to read an entire listing beforeclicking on the bid button.

Besides making sure a copyis clearly identified in alisting, it is best that artistsmaking their own copiesshould also mark the coinsas such. I bought a copy ofAleksey's 25 th anniversaryMorgan dollar carving andnoticed that he clearlymarked copy in fairly large type on one side of thecoin. Ron Landis also marked U.S. and ancient coincopies when he ran the Gallery Mint. A copy mark onthe edge of a coin is not recommended as it can besmoothed off by a person later on down the road.

There is also a seller on eBay making epoxy resinhobo nickel copies and mounting them in bezelsmade from coins. The seller has obtained artistpermission and does list them in the description ascopies. Just remember it is always important to readthe fine print in the listings because looking only atthe photos can be misleading. The title does not sumeverything up either, so always read the descriptions.

Carol adds:

For more information about the Original Hobo Nickel Society, see:
www.hobonickels.org