Sharing some of my pocket art! #showandtell

Hey there! Figured since for my first post in the showandtell tag I shared some art off my wall, that I'd stick with the theme but show you guys some art that is a bit more strange. Said strange art is what I often carry with me everyday in my pockets, which I've just started referring to as pocket art! Now, this ranges from a few things which I'm sure you'll notice, but I tend to carry a few cool little trinkets and pieces of artwork for sentimental reasons and just so I have something neat to admire and look at. My favorite thing to carry in my pockets though are hobo coins! 

This first coin depicts the Vault Boy from the Fallout series, doing his classic thumbs up pose and has 101 carved beside him (A reference to Vault 101). Now, if you don't know what hobo coins are, I wouldn't be all that surprised. They're not a very common art form these days, and I've only known a few other people who collect them as well as make them. There's quite a bit of history to them though, and the things that you can carve on coins is downright amazing. 

These two are a pair I had made based upon my love of all things Godzilla. The coin on the right is the Heisei era Godzilla, while I also had him carve me one of his many nemesis's, Mecha Godzilla. I had him go for more of a retro look using the 70's style for it though, as that's what I grew up watching. Now, one thing that I really like about these two coins is how deep the carving went where it started hitting the copper layers. Although it was unintended with the Godzilla coin, I think it just makes it more charming. 

If you're getting at all interested in this art form after looking for a few minutes, then you should really look into hobo coins yourself! As I mentioned before, there's a lot of history to them. The act of carving US coins dates back all the way to the early 1900's, right around 1913. Most of the coins used back then were Buffalo nickels, which still to this day is what carvers will often use for their work. The older coins often looked like little portraits and were carved in a far different way to how it's done in this day and age. These days, most hobo coins are more of a little sculpture than a portrait. 

And, these are probably the most recognizable coins that I've owned, depicting Vegeta and Goku from the well known anime series Dragon Ball Z. These were carved on golden dollars, instead of the more traditional nickel or quarter. In this day and age, these things are just some cool little works of art that you could either carry with you, or if you want, put on display somewhere in your home or wherever. Back in the early days of this art form, they were used in a few different ways. 

They originally got their name (Hobo Nickels) from the supposed fact that hobo's would often carve these so they could then trade them for food, shelter, or for hitching a ride somewhere. I believe this to probably be true, as the tools used for the early day hobo coin/nickel were pretty primitive and available to basically anyone and everyone who wanted them. The tools they used consisted of things like nails, pocket knives, screwdrivers, hammers, and even scarp pieces of metal which were altered into being tools. In this modern age of making hobo nickels/coins, most artists just use power tools and tools actually made for sculpting and carving. 

Now, I have plenty of pictures I could share of my hobo coins, but I don't want to be stuck on those all day since this is a post about my pocket art as a whole. With that said, how about I show you guys some of the other "coins" which I carry with me often? These are items that I was lucky enough to be gifted through friends I made  when I was helping out a small charity group who raises funds to donate to larger animal based charity funds. I helped them by donating certain items for charity auctions, helping to research animal charities to donate to, and a few other things as well. 

You might notice that there is a theme going on with the top two items, and that's because the group that I've been helping out has a theme which is centered around Godzilla. That was one of the many reasons why their page caught my eye, since I'm an avid Godzilla fan. The upper left item is a polymer clay coin which is based upon Godzilla's eye, and has some lettered beads embedded in the back which says Be Kind. The item on the upper right is a custom made poker chip which is centered around the charity group as well, with an outline of the G-man himself sporting the phrase Be Kind yet again. 

This is their catchphrase for a reason, as they spread the idea of being kind to all animals alongside people as well. The bottom item in this picture is a bit different, and is a gift which I received alongside the poker chip as a small thank you. It's a fully copper coin which has one side depicting an angel, with the other side depicting a devil. It's a pretty neat little coin, and will surely make any coin toss I have to do a bit more entertaining at the very least. Finally, I'm left with the last little pieces of pocket art that I'd like to talk about. 

These are some of my favorite things to carry with me, and also probably the least strange I suppose. Well, I guess to some people they might still be considered a bit weird, however. Anyways, lets talk about these little figures. The figure on the right is another item I was gifted from the charity group, it's a hand made little resin robot which was molded with glow in the dark resin. The back of it is clear, and features a little cog centered right in the resin which is pretty neat, though not quite as neat as the fact that it glows in the dark! 

The other two figures are probably pretty easy to identify, but if you don't recognize them they're Deadpool and The Joker, two of my favorite comic book characters, and probably two of the most insane ones to boot. These were hand made using the method of crocheting, and I originally was actually carrying these on knife lanyards thanks to the little loop I asked the creator to include on the top of their heads. I switched over to just keeping these guys in my pocket, however, as it seems slightly more practical. I've also got a larger version of the Deadpool figure, though my girlfriend has basically taken it and labeled it as hers. I really like all of these little figures though, and enjoy being able to carry them alongside all my other little pieces of pocket art. 

So, there you have it. I hope you enjoyed taking a peek at something odd that I collect and carry, and that maybe it has gotten you interested in something new or at least given you some form of entertainment! I also hope maybe it's helped gotten you interested in posting your own showandtell post, as I'm really enjoying being able to do these myself! If you don't know what the show and tell tag is, then go check out @saywha's post over here https://steemit.com/showandtell/@saywha/a-new-steemit-tag-showandtell to get an explanation on the idea of it. 

Thanks for checking out my post!