Skull "Hobo" Nickels

Man, I wish we had legit coins as cool as this, but it wouldn't be as special if it were machine made this way. These gems are a sampling of skull carved "hobo" nickels, mostly stemming from the 1930s depression era.

The sudden scarcity of jobs in the early 1930s forced a huge number of men to hit the road. Certainly some coins were carved to fill the idle hours. More importantly, a ‘knight of the road,’ with no regular source of income, could take one of these plentiful coins and turn it into a folk art piece, which could in turn be sold or traded for small favors such as a meal or shelter for a night.

Coin carvers would cover buffalo nickels with all kinda of folk art, faces, scenes, and skulls and have become a collectors items these days and more can be read about these rad coins here. Also, check out some more skull coins here.[via thisiscolossal]