The Jewish Nickel 

If you're looking at this page chances are you either have a Jewish nickel or have heard one of the many conflicting stories around the Internet regarding the Jewish nickel and the Hobo nickel.
Jewish Nickels were tokens sold in quantity, predominantly on the East coast and were also available for mail order from magazine ads as well.  They were marketed as a novelty coin to fool the people who received it.  On the back of the Jewish nickels were the three "Pawn Balls" and the text "Good Luck".
There are at least five types of Jewish nickels (Type 1, Type 2, Type 2B, Type 3 and Type 4) with the possibility of a another type with "Jewish inscriptions" on the reverse (however we have never seen this type).
Hobo Nickels are altered coin currency where the coin is altered (carved or engraved) into some form of miniature art.  Back in the day these were carved by migrant workers, aka Hobos (hoboes) traveling via the railways, however not by purchasing a train ticket but by hoping a freight train to their next destination or "hop".  Hoping freight trains was (and still is) a hobos way of traveling to find work and to travel across the country for free (as long as they don't get caught by the railroad police (The Bull). 
If you talk to any Hobo who has ridden the rails most will tell you that they have seen a hobo nickel in their travels.
You can read about the history and the confusion around these coins in a new book "Jewish Nickels: The Coin Confused with the Hobo Nickel.

Book:
The Jewish Nickel: The Coin Confused with the Hobo Nickel

A look into the history of the Jewish Nickel, a mass-produced novelty coin that has often been mistaken for a Hobo Nickel. This book explores its origins, design, and the reasons behind the confusion.

Available on Amazon

Thank you to those of have supported the book: The Jewish Nickel: The Coin Confused with the Hobo Nickel

This clipping from AntiqueWeek is a letter to the editor regarding "setting the record straight on altered nickels".  It reads:

Altered nickels

To the Editor: I'd like to set the record straight.  About a month ago, Antique Week printed a filler that said "hobo nickels" were made by itinerants who exchanged them for a small sum of money or for a meal.  This is incorrect, revisionist history.

The nickels in question were altered during the Depression of the 1930s, by jewelers and engravers.  These skilled craftsmen scraped, filed and incised, changing the Indian of the "Buffalo nickel" (at the time the circulating coin) into a satirical Jewish profile.  The finished product was universally known as a "Jewish nickel," and the stereotype was a bearded man with a large nose wearing a derby hat.  Hoboes may have had the time, but they did not have the skills and tools to create these miniature works of art.  Until the late 1930s, one could buy these "Jewish nickels" in New York coin or curio shops for a dollar or so.  No doubt these nickels were made by jewelers and engravers in other major cities.

To this day, it isn't unlawful to mutilate coins; the law just prohibits passing the coins after mutilation.

J. Duncan Campbell

Harrisburg, Pa.

                                              o---------------o

SSoIH note:  The great depression was from August 1929 to March 1933.

SSoIH would like to "Set the record straight".  Jewish nickels are not hand carved coins, they were mass produced as a novelty item.  Hobo Nickels weren't produced by Jewelers and Engravers (although some could have been, there was more money to be made in jewelry.).  Most hobo nickels were altered coins done by hobos / itinerant workers.  Modern hobo nickels carvers still carve hobo nickels today.

This article is what sparked a 12 year long research project into the Jewish Nickel and led to the publishing of the book above.

ADVERTISEMENT - Johnson Smith & Co.

The Jewish Nickel - A Very Clever Pocket Joke

With a few of these Jewish or Yiddish Nickels, you can have no end of fun.  Hand it to a friend, street car conductor, or a storekeeper and watch his face as he examines it.  It is made of silver finish white metal.

No. 2136. Jewish Nickel price ....... 5c

3 for 10 cents, 1 doz. for 30c postpaid.

* Note the odd spelling of Nickel "Nickle".  Not sure if this was a misspelling or an attempt at "coining" a term but it appeared that way through many years of their catalog.

Discover this and many other advertisments and stories for the Jewish Nickel in the book: The Jewish Nickel: The Coin Confused with the Hobo Nickel.

The SSoIH Jewish Nickel Collection

The entire collection with photos and specifications is documented in the book. The Jewish Nickel: The Coin Confused with the Hobo Nickel.

What is a Jewish Nickel worth?  

The answer to that question is whatever you are willing to pay for one.  Our opinion (in the year 2020) is that a top quality, good detail Jewish Nickel (such as the one pictured in the 'collection' row above) could go for as much as $20 if someone is willing to pay that much.  More realistically these tokens have been selling on eBay for around $8.  These are just cheap mass produced novelty tokens however they are no longer produced and therefore "collectable" and a great addition to someone's "good luck" token or oddities and curiosities collection.