Baseball Cap Hobo Tokens 1994 OHNS strike on a specially prepared nickel planchet and 1995 Britt Hobo Convention strike on a copper planchet. Well, here's another nice mess you've gotten us into!    First, I purchased a 1994 Baseball Cap Hobo OHNS nickel token made by GMM in 1995 and noted what was clearly an overdate, 1994 over 1995. I put it away and gave it no further thought.    Then, I visited the Britt Hobo Museum and saw a copper strike of what appeared to be the same OHNS token however it was dated 1995. The mystery deepens! All this is somehow related to the unissued 1994 Trimmed Beard Hobo OHNS nickel token that was, for some unknown reason, replaced by the 1994 Baseball Cap Hobo OHNS nickel token.    Jeff Daniher has advanced the theory that the Trimmed Beard design was rejected in favor of the Baseball Cap design because Ron didn't want the OHNS tokens to be too similar to "real" hobo nickels. Perhaps expecting that they might not sell as well or maybe fearing that they could be altered to pass as a "real" hobo carving. Ron has mentioned this latter concern on more than one occasion. A Trimmed Beard design struck on copper would never look like a "real hobo" but one on nickel could, maybe, just pass.    The 1994 nickel token has the OHNS Buffalo reverse while the 1995 copper token has the OHNS "ALL ABOARD" reverse. The Buffalo die was created in 1995 and used to strike the 1992, 1993 and 1994 specially prepared nickel planchet tokens. The "ALL ABOARD" die was also created in 1995 and used to strike the 1992, 1993, 1994 and 1995 copper planchet tokens plus the, previously unmentioned in this article, 1995 Indian OHNS tokens. The 1995 Indian tokens were struck in a variety of metals; silver, brass and nickel. The production issue was on nickel but it was a different planchet than that specially prepared for the Buffalo reverse tokens. Beginning in 1996 the OHNS token issues were struck over Jefferson nickels.    It took me a while but I finally tracked down an example of the 1995 Baseball Cap Hobo Britt Hobo Convention copper token. Careful study reveals that both Baseball Cap token issues were struck from the same working die that had the date modified between press runs. This is verified by the heavy "scratch" behind the hobo's ear. This die damage is a cut or dent which could result from dropping the die on something. Working dies are heavy little critters and pack quite a wallop when dropped. The field "behind" the ear would be the highest point on the surface of the working die.    I made a trip to Eureka Springs and Ron could not provide me with any additional information about the copper token strikes that he took with him to the 1995 Britt Hobo Convention. We did find "a" 1994 Baseball Cap Hobo working die in his shop but there was no apparent overdate on that die. I did not know to look for the scratch behind the ear at that point but it seems fairly obvious that there may have been more than a single working die involved in the creation of the 1994 Baseball Cap Hobo tokens that were struck on specially prepared nickel planchets. Study continues... so look at your collection and tell me what you find there please.    The Trimmed Beard design is distinctly different than the design used for the obverse of the 1995 Britt Hobo Token that Ron also struck for distribution at the Britt Hobo Convention. In fact, you can see here why we called the first design "Trimmed Beard". We were contrasting it to this design which has a nice bushy beard. You can read about that particular token issue at National Hobo Convention in Britt, Iowa {www.gmmnut.com/gmm/gmm24.html#britt}. Postscript: Oliver Hardy's most famous catchphrase is the often misquoted, "Well, here's another nice mess you've gotten us into." The incorrect "another fine mess" comes from the title of a 1930 Laurel and Hardy short film.

Verne R. Walrafen OHNS#620