5 Cents "Buffalo" - Pilot Hobo

Hobo nickels carved from Buffalo nickels occupy a genuinely ambiguous corner of numismatics — altered coins that most major grading services now recognize as a distinct collecting category. The "Pilot" designation refers to a specific recurring subject among hobo carvers: a figure wearing an aviator's helmet, distinct from the more common tramp or clown transformations. The deep relief of James Earle Fraser's original bison-side design gave carvers unusual working depth on the reverse, which many used for secondary carvings or signature marks.