Every so often I will surf the ‘Net to find new things on topics of interest. When I do this for numismatics, I find interesting sites that I bookmark for future blog posts. The problem is that the topics are not in the mainstream and not in my core interests. But they are intriguing enough for me to try to find an excuse to write about them. Today, I will write about three of these websites.
I wrote about a presentation at my local coin club about Hobo Nickels. I heard about Hobo Nickels before but did not know details but I learned more about these coins and the artists who are credited with creating them. Although I mentioned the Original Hobo Nickel Society, I wanted to take this opportunity to talk about their website. Although it can use a small does of aesthetics, web surfers are greeted with a montage of six Hobo Nickels on the front page. One area to check out are the Nickel Carver’s Showcase with pictures of modern artists and their work. There are three pages of great works so be sure to look at all of the pages. You may also want to see the OHNS Annual Hobo Tokens, which can be purchase from the Society.
Under the category of collect what you like is the collection of Holed Coins. These are not coins made with holes but coins that had holes drilled into them. Most of the time, these coins are used for jewelry or for adornments on clothing. One representative of a Holed Coin enthusiast is Holey Lovin’ by Douglas Thigpen. On the home page, Thigpen writes that he has “always been drawn to holed coins.” noting that “they are often procured for much less than non-holed examples.” Although the site looks sparse, the site can be easily navigated through the categories with pictures of various holed coins. You have to see the images of the two Carved Holed Coins where an 1875 Seated Liberty Dime and Gold Indian Dollar are carved into Love Tokens.
Rather than collecting coins, how about the slabs which they are housed. I am not talking about collecting for registry set but collecting sample slabs produced by the grading services. Cameron Kiefer, former Young Numismatist of the Year and grader for ICG, collects the sample slabs given out by the grading services to promote their services. Aside from the images of sample slabs from nearly every grading service that exists and used to exist, the site provides a visual history of grading services. The pages showing PCGS sample slabs and NGC sample slabs shows a fascinating evolution of their respective slabs.
While researching this post, I found a few other interesting websites. I will write about those in the future.