This star brought a tear to my eye....

I was flipping through a strap of singles that I had picked up at a local bank looking for star notes and I found a crisp 2003 A star: E 00094559*

Great! 320,000 in this run - pretty rare star... but...

Problem was, it was tatooed with a total of 3 "where's george" stamps on both sides!!! :headbang:

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

Wow, I hope you leave a really flaming complaint about it on the wheresgeorge site.

Although it looks like they are only going for $1.50 to $2 each on ebay (pluss shipping of course).

 

well enter it.

 

Sorry to hear that the note was defaced! I wish to hell someone would find George, so that the stampings will stop and nice Notes won't be trashed!


Frank

 

I plan to! It's like a hate crime to an otherwise AU star note

 

"Wheres george" is but a plague upon historic and otherwise collectible currency. I kid you not, people on the wheres george forum just yesterday were encouraging someone to spend a $5 1953 Red Seal Star! The United States Federal Government needs to step in and shut down the site. The grounds that they could use to do this would be:

1) That stamping the bills are defacement of U.S. currency.

2) Many of the stamps used render the bills unable to pass through the Federal Reserve's fitness standard machines and thus get destroyed soley because of the wheres george stamps. Many of the wheres george users are aware of this but continue to flagrantly stamp bills anyways, this right here shows willful intent to render the bills unfit for circulation.

 

I work in a public library. We used to have a patron who would bring in stacks of $1 bills and enter them into "Where's George." I never noticed if the bills were stamped (patron privacy and all) but found it hard to believe that he thought is was worth the effort. Eh, to each his own I guess. :whistle:

 

Wheresgeorge Tracking for this note

I only enter notes if they have the stamps on them, I have never marked them up etc. Most of the ones I get come from someone about 20 miles from where I live, they must circulate thousands of ones with these stamps.

I do notice that they do not have dates before 1963, so stamping 1953 $2's would be out of the question.

 

Don't let this fool you, over time I have seen several posts on the wheres george forum by users who have stamped bills from the 1950s who are confused that they could not enter these bills which they already stamped! One time I read of someone asking about wanting to enter and stamp a 1934 twenty! Many of these users are so addicted to entering and stamping currency that they put this well before any numismatic or historical considerations. It is like a cocaine dependency for many users and to me, it really is selfish and sad.

 

Regarding the info provided by Scottishmoney (above)...

The dipsh*t who stamped this also stamped about 40 other notes (none of them with noteworthy serials, thank goodness) and probably just dropped them off at the bank that I happened to go to to ask for a strap of singles. That's technically against the rules of where's george, as I understand them.

 

Actually that's not correct; it only constitutes illegal defacement if it renders the currency unfit to be issued. In other words, if you can still spend it, you haven't broken the law by stamping it. Some banks sent them to be shredded anyway, but they don't have to, they simply choose to... they are still fit for circulation, so nothing illegal has occured.

As to other complaints... as long as people only stamp their own money, what's the problem? It's their money... if they'd rather stamp it and track it than keep it in a collection, that's their business. Now if they were stamping your money, I'd say you have a legitimate complaint lol...

 

TITLE 18 > PART I > CHAPTER 25 > § 475

"§ 475. Imitating obligations or securities; advertisements

Whoever designs, engraves, prints, makes, or executes, or utters, issues, distributes, circulates, or uses any business or professional card, notice, placard, circular, handbill, or advertisement in the likeness or similitude of any obligation or security of the United States issued under or authorized by any Act of Congress or writes, prints, or otherwise impresses upon or attaches to any such instrument, obligation, or security, or any coin of the United States, any business or professional card, notice, or advertisement, or any notice or advertisement whatever, shall be fined under this title. Nothing in this section applies to evidence of postage payment approved by the United States Postal Service."

Currency is an obligation of the US Government and is property of the US Government. It's not technically yours. So in the strictest interpetation of the law, stamping my star note with a where's george stamp is against the law. But so is going 60 mph in a 55 - chances are you're not going to get pulled over.

 

Where's george is not an advertisement or business card. This is intended to prevent anyone from using currency as their personal advertising. This is not an advertisement but rather a tracking device.

that being said, I would really ****ed to find a nice silver certificate with it on it.

Richard

 

If your note has a green seal, it is not an obligation of the US Government. It would be an obligation of the Federal Reserve Bank which is a private corporation that is chartered by the US government, heavily regulated by the US government, and backed by the full faith of the US government.

If you have a red seal, blue seal, yellow seal, brown seal, gold seal, etc.... Then you have an obligation of the US government.

 

It maybe technically illegal to stamp the currency, but who enforces it if it indeed is? I sure haven't heard of the Secret Service going after the scofflaws.

 

Troodon, I explained what you tried to counter in part two of my posting. Unfit as in unfit to be re-issued by the Federal Reserve System. Just because you can still spend a bill does not mean that the bill is still "fit". That's say that I tore 20% off of one side of a bill and spent it. Obviously the bill is unfit to continue circulating but is still acceptable. This is the same principle as with wheres george.


Yes, it is "their" bill at the time that they stamped it but how about the next person who owns it? Has any consideration been given that the new owner may have wanted to enjoy the bill in a collection such as wrucmike? Many wheres george users are aware that old bills and stars may have historic or collector value to someone else but choose to enter and stamp such bills anyways. This makes them a very inconsiderate and selfish group of people in my opinion.

 

http://www.ustreas.gov/education/faq/currency/legal-tender.shtml

Federal Reserve Banks obtain the notes from our Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP). It pays the BEP for the cost of producing the notes, which then become liabilities of the Federal Reserve Banks, and obligations of the United States Government.

 

sheehs, that's horrible!
Now, I like where's george and all, I think its fun.
but on a note like that!!!

 

I'm an avid Georger and Willier (Where's Willy - for Canadian currency) and do not stamp star notes unless they are in poor shape.

Very interesting comments in this thread. Most appear very similar to the Where's George and Where's Willy forums in discussing the fine points of regulations and wishing ill will to those that impede our hobby.

 

Hello. I am a new user of Where's George? and a collector. I would like to share my thoughts on a few things mentioned here.

First off, it is only defacement of a bill if it is done with the intent for the bill to be unfit to be reissued. The point of Where's George? is for bills to circulate and be rentered to see where they travel.

http://www.bep.treas.gov/document.cfm/18/104

Now, I also find it odd that you insult Where's George in particular over someone marking on a bill. In my life, I have found a single Where's George? bill besides my own. However, in the average week, I find 3-4 bills that have markings on them. About 10% of bills I get from the bank have some sort of writing or stamp on them. I even occasionally get heavily marked bills, such as a 1976 $2 bill I got last week with 2 clemson tiger stamps on it.

My point is is that Where's George users are just a few of the people who mark on currency. It is not illegal to do. However, Where's George users actually do it for fun and are able to see where money goes. Speaking of which, it would have been nice if the original poster would have updated the location of the bill instead of merely complaining.

For those who do not wish to mark on bills, or not much, there is still fun to had in Georging. I personally use one simple stamp in the margin on my bills. Other Georgers do not even put any sort of markings on the bill. In fact, the Where's George? site does not in any way encourage markings on bills. That is entirely the users choice. You can see some Georgers who have entered tons of bills without any markings, such as Casper the Ghost Georger: http://www.wheresgeorge.com/user_profile_popup.php?ukey=67a9a8f7e8873764c8a33e4b2c4b0a56

I would also like to note a few things about older bills. First off all, the Where's George rules are that bills must be Entered, optionally Marked, and Spent- in that order. Users can get banned if they Mark before they Enter, as this leads to what are called Wild and Crazy bills. In fact, right in the FAQ, it is noted: "Where's George? simply doesn't track bills older than series 1969, except for $1 or $2 bills as old as the 1963 series can be entered." Those who are not collectors would probably spend older money or stars without any notice. An older bill or star could go through much worse things that stamps anyway. Would you be complaining to Coca-Cola if the bill you pictured were to have been dropped in Coke?

Anyway, I know this post is out of order as I replied to various posts here without quoting. I do wish that some of you would take a look at Where's George? and consider entering some of your own bills. You don't even have to mark them if you wish, but don't expect many location updates. There are many bill collectors (such as the owner of http://www.tickleyourfancycurrency.com/ which has some GREAT stuff) on the Where's George forum as well. They often encourage older bills, stars, and errors to be posted for review before they are marked. However, some Georgers this simply doesn't cross their mind. They just enter and mark whatever they would usually spend.