I think we should send this to all members of congress to prevent the future availability of collector coins from being diminished. Disagree if you wish, but to me, coins are History, and damaging them or melting them down is destroying history. To me it would be no different if someone melted down a 1000 silver dollars then to go into a museum and destroy a famous painting. We currently cannot melt down any coins that are used for circulation, like nickels, dimes, pennies, etc, why should it be any different for coins that actually are collectible and historical? ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Historical coins are to be defined as any coin manufactured by the United States Mint 1965 and before. This applies to all circulation coinage, commemorative coins, medals, tokens, proof sets, mint sets, etc. This term hereby applies to any product manufactured by the US Mint before year 1965. The purpose of this act is to prevent historical coins from being melted down, made into jewelry, artificially toned, and other damaging effects which ruin their original composition. The mintage numbers for US coins are heavily contrasted by the unknown surviving amounts of historical coins. This is because coins in the past and present have been melted down, mutilated, made into jewelry, and destroyed by other means. As times goes on, the amount of historical coins for collectors to enjoy will diminish. Another spike in the price of Gold and Silver could be a major detriment to this hobby, as untold amounts of Silver Coins were melted down during the early 80s and year 2011. Untold amounts of gold coinage was melted down in the early 80's and year 2011 as well, as the price of gold reached an all time high of $1889/troy ounce. These major "melt downs" have destroyed thousands of collector coins, preventing them to ever be enjoyed by future generations. The 2nd biggest detriment to the collecting hobby is mutilation. Coins being made into rings, watches, necklaces, money clips, and other items. Coins being cut, drilled, bent, and destroyed by other means. These practices have also diminished the surviving population for further generations to enjoy. If an end is not put to these detrimental actives, it will severely impact the collecting hobby for future generations. Under the Historical Coin Protection Act. (HCPA), it will be illegal to: A. Melt down any coins or other products manufactured by the US mint 1965 and before. B. Cut, tear, bend, drill, solder, or otherwise mutilate any coins or other products manufactured by the US Mint 1965 and before. C. Paint, enamel, colorize, artificially tone, plate, coat, or any other kind of method of changing the original surface of any coin or other products manufactured by the US mint 1965 and before.
Are you proposing that it should be illegal to: 1) Carve Buffalo Nickels into Hobo Nickels? 2) Use a coin in jewelry (e.g., place it in a ring, bezel or pendant) or article of clothing (e.g., placing coins on a belt or belt buckle or hat band)? 3) Colorize coins? 4) Harshly clean your coins (intentionally or unintentionally)? 5) Use a bronze cent in place of a fuse? 6) Create elongated coins? 7) Use Nik-A-Date on no-date Buffalo Nickels? 8) Reprocess your Steel Cents? 9) Put coins on a railroad track? 10) Put your coins in a rock tumber? I'm sorry but your coins are your coins and you can do with them what you wish (except, of course, melt cent and nickels per the current law).
there is a MAJOR difference between melting down a thousand silver dollars and damaging a masterpiece. A painting or other piece of fine art is unique, coins are not. The more accurate analogy would be someone burning a thousand dollar store prints of the Mona Lisa. People don't melt down the high end mint grade coins, they melt the ones that are so common that they don't have value above melt. I find it funny that you propose this bill but the quote in your sig is "paper money eventually returns to ist intrinsic value--zero". Aren't they all little artistic masterpieces to be protected at all costs? The CPA is coming (Coin Protection Agency) to check your coins.....
Of course since these coins are now all items of historical importance and of course our cultural heritage, the obvious next step is to require all coins issued before 1965 to be immediately surrendered to the new Dept of Cultural Heritage which will see to their distribution to museums. Private ownership of all coins dated before 1965 will hereby be outlawed. Anyone found to be holding pre-1965 after a date to be determined by June 1st 2013, will be fined an amount to be not less than three times it's FMV as determined by the 2013 Redbook. That may sounds silly but it is not that far off from some of the "Cultural Heritage" rules followed by other countries. You get all the older coins declared "Historical", and a regulation such as I posted above does NOT become too far fetched. They have tried to outlaw coin collecting before, don't give them another reason to try again. After all, can't you see the government being happy to gather in all the old gold and silver coins, at little or no cost, distributing some to museums, and of course the no melting rule doesn't apply to THEM, so all that huge mass of gold and silver from the common coins can be sold off and the money spent.
I think this is a terrible idea. The reason is...it really doesn't help anything. Any law that restricts freedom without benefit is a bad law. Here is an example, they minted millions upon millions of 1946-64 Roosevelt Dimes. Sure, there is a small group of people (coin collectors) who enjoy collecting these and other coins. But, there are more than enough coins in existence to make the collectors happy. There is no reason to preserve such a massive number of these coins. If they are so common, they are only worth melt (which with few exceptions Roosies are below MS63)...why save them. That seems like a waste to me. Plus, the fewer survivors there are...the more value the survivors will have.
If the federal reserve and our congress could just keep the value of a dollar and stop going into debt, there would be no incentive to melt.
jonny speaks out for the first time since joining CT over 2 weeks ago. Welcome, and not a bad point when you really think about it.
I think what he says makes sense to a certain degree...but a little inflation is considered healthy for an economy. Even if the economy had been perfect since 1964...those coins would have more silver in them than face value and the incentive to melt would still be present.
I support Detecto's proposed Historical Coin Protection Act. The production of hobo nickels and coin carvings, etc. on pre-1965 coinage also needs to be outlawed. What needs to be added to this section is the exportation of these historical coins to other countries. The exportation of a small amount for collecting purposes should be allowed but exporting bulk amounts of pre-1965 coins needs to be made illegal as well. This will help prevent people from circumventing the prohibition against the destruction of these historic coins by sending them out to be melted abroad. Back in 2005, I had firsthand conversations with a coin smelter and let me tell you that coin smelters don't have a conscience. They are evil, they have a heart of charcoal. This coin smelter used to bring trays full of perfectly good half dollars dating as far back as 1917 to a local coin club that I used to belong to. These trays also had a lot of Mint Beautiful Uncirculated 1964 Kennedy halves. This coin smelter would often tell me that whatever doesn't sell tonight was going to be refined in the coming week. One time his wife saw how I was turning pale at what this man was telling me so she tried to justify her husband's actions by saying how much money he made by doing it. This coin smelter, his wife (if they are still alive, they were kind of old back then) and all other coin smelters belong in prison. Once a coin has been melted, it is gone forever and there is no bringing it back. This destruction is inexcusable. I propose that the HCPA be further amended to allow for the retroactive prosecution of anyone who has smelted any pre-1965 United States silver coinage. This may be prohibited by clause 3 of Article I, Section 9 of the United States Constitution but I don't care. I say amend the Constitution. The Constitution can use some modernization, anyway, and what better way to do it than by passing the HCPA with an ex post facto law.
All Hail nos! They all belong in prison! Ex post facto at that! Where can I line up to be a citizen of that country?
I cannot find in anyway how a coin can be called mine as in ownership. While as long as the governent doesnt need it i can keep it in my collection. I cannot melt it to use the silver to make anything else from it. There for how do we have any ownership of it except to keep it so long as the goverment says we can. How many times have coins been taken back and melted by our goverment. That alone should tell you who the real owner of these coins are and we can use them so long as our higher ups say we can. You and i own nothing same as your property as it can be deemed a wetland and and then see even if you have the deed to it who truely owns it. We ourselves are goverment owned as at birth they give you an ID number that tracks you the rest of ones natural life. Welcome to land of the free home of the Federal goverment.
