While hitchhiking feels like a distant memory, it wasn't an uncommon practice. Transient life was particularly popular during the Great Depression, as it was many people's only means of getting around ...

Adam Leech, who owns Leechpit, a vintage clothing and collectibles store in Colorado Springs, has been obsessed for years by an unusual folk art form called hobo nickels. Starting with buffalo nickels ...

The chisel slipped, injuring one of his hands. And the work of Bo Hughes, one of the best-known hobo nickel carvers, was never the same. The Great Depression largely defined the hobo nickel phenomenon ...

Here’s some food for thought: Hobos are shrewd capitalists. At least, as Adam Leech explains it, those who carved hobo nickels in the early 20th century were. Hobo nickels — coins whose bas-reliefs ...

We’re aiming to raise $20,000 by April 26. Your support ensures Westword can continue watching out for you and our community. No paywall. Always accessible. Daily online and weekly in print. Leech ...

Things you can buy with a nickel: A sip of Starbucks coffee. A gumball, maybe. Things you can buy with a 1913 Liberty Head nickel: A SoHo loft. A gumball, maybe. Spending-wise, the nickel doesn’t earn ...