Exonumia
What is Exonumia?
Exonumia are coin-like objects whose value is based on their appearance and novelty.
This includes:
- Tokens
- Badges
- Counter-stamped coins
- Elongated coins
- Encased coins
- Souvenir medallions
- Tags
- Wooden nickels
Hobo Nickels
Coins used as a sculpting medium are called “hobo nickels.” Nickels are a publicly accessible artistic medium consistently circulating within every class of American society. Impoverished artists of the 1930s “Hobo” class carved the Buffalo Nickel’s soft metal into designs of their own creation, collecting and trading their work within their community. Many Hobo Nickels depict skulls, animals, and characters.
Wooden nickels were intended to be emergency currency during the Civil War, but after proving unnecessary, they were distributed as novel souvenirs during the 1933 Chicago World’s Fair. Their lack of precious metal content symbolizes complacency and deceit, yielding the adage “Don’t accept wooden nickels.”
After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States implemented a plan to render Hawaii economically powerless if invaded. All circulating paper currency within the state was recalled and replaced with notes stamped “Hawaii” to indicate their origin. This emergency currency could be debased in an instant to eliminate any spending power by the Japanese.