2017-08-23 Wed

On 10th August, a carved Morgan dollar with a 1945 gold 2-peso Mexican coin serving as “bait” in the middle sold for $10,101 on eBay. The coin has been modified by Russian artist Roman Booteen and is called “THE TRAP with GOLDEN BAIT.”

The reverse features the normal design but is convex. The obverse is concave and is modified to a great extent. A mouth like a trap jaw closes when the gold coin at the center is pressed. The coin also features arrows in gold on both sides of the bait coin, The Trap is made of silver and iron.

An inscription reads AURUM MULTO MAGIS ANIMAS PERDIDIT, QUAM FERRUM CORPORA CECIDIT which translates to “Gold has killed more souls than iron”.

Booteen has made several such artistic “hobo coins”, mostly by using large silver dollars. The hobo nickels of the 1930s on the other hand, were made using circulating Indian Head 5-cent coins.