Lem The Hobo Soup Guy Hobo Nickel

I have always admired the Hobo Soup Label and thought for a long time the little Hobo would look great on a nickel. So, a few months ago I decided to search for the owner and ask for permission to use the artwork on a Hobo nickel carving. Sadly, I found that the owner/inventor of Hobo Soup, Jim Kaercher, had passed away in 2014. However, I was able to contact Jim's daughter Sue Kaercher, and she thought it was a great idea to create a Hobo Nickel using the Hobo Soup logo.

Sue is a fourth generation editor of the Ortonville Independent, a family company of which her father Jim and grandfather Lem were also editors. She has a column where she writes about interesting things and wrote about my nickel carving. Her grandfather Lem and father Jim's story of how they founded Hobo Soup is fascinating and one everyone should know. I asked if the the little Hobo had a name. Sue said he didn't but that he should be named 'Lem' after her grandfather who spent several years as a Hobo when he was a young man.

Here is my carving of 'Lem' the little Hobo Soup Guy. The carving has both 24 karat gold and copper inlay.

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