Hi Ron this is a great piece of Art and a tribute for a great Man,all people that love the hobo nickels world,not only the hobo carvers, know that,congratulations this is a great nickel!
Superb carving, when I look at the eye it´s like there is real glass in the glasses.(is that the right way to discribe??)
But every detail, like the ear and the hair, just amazing !!!
A very touching tribute for sure. No doubt Verne would be immensely happy.
Technically the portrait is fantastic and the reverse is masterfully designed and cut. As for the reverse, there are so few engravers today who can design something such as this much less carve and letter it so beautifully. It's the classic style that's nearly disappeared and only to be seen in the old monogram books which show lettering and design from 100+ years ago. Hats off to you Ron!!
Thank you for the nice comments everyone. I'm still poking at it and touching up here and there. I always have a hard time knowing when to stop. Sam, thanks for the comments on the reverse. I was first just going to engrave it on the buffalo, but this just sort of happened once I decided to do the banner. The raised metal of the buffalo was the basic outline of the scroll, banner and shield. The left end of the banner started out being the beard of the buffalo, and the shield started out being the shoulder, for example. The whole project was a lot of work, but the big guy left this world without receiving some carvings that were owed to him, so this is the least I could do for my old friend.
Yep, I owe him one myself. We never nailed down a design before he passed. Abigail and I were talking about it and I figure I can just choose something appropriate and send it to his family.
V. Walrafen Memorial Nickel
Reply With Quote
