Hobo nickel collector Candace Kagin announces plans to liquidate her more than 600-piece collection

Hobo nickel collector Candace Kagin announced in the Spring 2025 issue of Bo Tales — official journal of the Original Hobo Nickel Society — that she plans to liquidate her more than 600-piece hobo nickel collection in a series of public auctions to be held in 2025 and 2026 by Stack's Bowers Galleries.

Candace Kagin, a fervent collector of hobo nickels, is set to unveil her more than 600-piece collection in a series of public auctions to be held in 2025 and 2026 by Stack’s Bowers Galleries, as announced in the Spring 2025 issue of Bo Tales—the official journal of the Original Hobo Nickel Society.

The first session will take place in August at the American Numismatic Association’s World’s Fair of Money in Oklahoma City.

Hobo nickels are unique pieces of numismatic art. They begin with struck Indian Head 5-cent coins, which artists modify by carving new designs or altering the existing design. These creations are crafted using carving tools or even simpler items like nails.

Kagin’s collection features classic and modern hobo nickels, starting with 5-cent coins dated 1913 through the end of the coin series in 1938.

Kagin has been collecting hobo nickels for over two decades, beginning when she attended her first OHNS auction in January 2004 at the Florida United Numismatists convention in Orlando. In 2012, Kagin acquired the 200+ piece hobo nickel collection of Larry Frost, increasing her own holdings to more than 600 pieces.

Kagin's early collecting attention was drawn to hobo nickels that depicted women or were made by women.

Some of the rarer individual carvings, valued in the thousands of dollars, are expected to realize considerably more than their purchase price when they hit the auction block.

Among the pieces to be offered in the August auction are works pedigreed to recognized hobo artists Bertrand "Bert" Wiegand and his protégé and often traveling companion, George Washington "Bo" Hughes.

Both men traveled the country for years aboard freight trains, hitching rides and often executing their art pieces while traveling, exchanging them for a meal or a safe place to sleep.

In his 1982 reference Hobo Nickels, author Delma K. Romines explains that Weigand carved his hobo nickels from 1913 through 1949. Wiegand often signed his work by removing the LI and Y from the inscribed LIBERTY, leaving just BERT. Sometimes Weigand would carve the date into one of his works.

Bo began employing his carving skills about 1915, frequently signing his work GH, GWH or George H. At the time of Romines' book publication, only one hobo nickel executed by Hughes was known to have been signed as BO.

Each hobo nickel carver's work is often identifiable by their differentiated styles, which longtime collectors can easily discern.

Wiegand, according to Romines, was last publicly seen in 1949 in Florida. Hughes is known to have executed superior carvings until the year 1957, when he suffered an injury to his left hand, resulting in paralysis and modifications to his carving style.