electromagnetically "shrinking coins"

Don't think so. Tesla coils are strictly AC; you wouldn't be able to accumulate charge in a block.

 

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Hate to spoil your fun, but i thought it was illegal to deface U.S. currency. I'm sure Elliot Ness will get right on this.

 

no, coins are fair game..i.e. elongated cents, coins cut up for jewelry, other countries like great britain, yes, tis a crime, not in the us, however,,,if not intending to defraud..which these are not...

 

They also have to be a currently circulating issue to be considered intent to defraud. In other words, altering a Morgan dollar or a Walking Liberty half, for example, would not be considered fraud because they don't currently circulate.

 

Pretty sure this isn't right, though.

1) There are plenty of stories here of people picking up Morgan dollars or WL halves for face value at a bank. Being deposited and withdrawn at banks certainly seems like one definition of "circulating". They're also found, very rarely, in cash registers.

2) They were never demonetized, which means they're still perfectly legal to spend or accept as cash.

3) Go into business sticking D's onto 1916 dimes, and see what happens when they're traced back to you...

 

The 'Goobs' could care less what the devil we do with our coins. They've more pressing problems.

 

AND, THAT WOULD BE INTENT FOR FRAUD, MY FRIEND, BY SELLING A COUNTERFEIT, COPIES, RESTRIKES ARE LEGAL AS LONG AS NOT INTENDED FOR FRAUDELEUNT USE, it is like selling a bridge you do not own, or the eiffel tower...look up the staututes, they are on line, not illegal in america to deface coins sad to say look at carr coins and hodo nickels, pottty dollars and love tokens..

 

Yes, It’s Legal!

Many people assume that it’s illegal to stamp or write on paper currency, but they’re wrong! We’re not defacing U.S. currency, we’re decorating dollars! There are three things that you CANNOT do to paper currency:

1. You CANNOT change the denomination — for example, you cannot add two zeros to a one dollar bill and pretend that it’s a one hundred dollar bill. That’s illegal.
2. You CANNOT burn, shred, or destroy currency, rendering it unfit for circulation.
3. You CANNOT advertise a business on paper currency. For example, if you own a Bagel shop, you cannot stamp “Eat at Joe’s Bagel’s” on a dollar.

But we are putting political messages on the bills, not commercial advertisements. Because we all want these bills to stay in circulation and we’re stamping to send a message about an issue that’s important to us, it’s legal!

this from a post asking is it illegal to stamp currency, looking for the coin one now

 

please note++++ key word here is "fraudulently
§331. Mutilation, diminution, and falsification of coins
Whoever fraudulently alters, defaces, mutilates, impairs, diminishes, falsifies, scales, or lightens any of the coins coined at the mints of the United States, or any foreign coins which are by law made current or are in actual use or circulation as money within the United States; or

Whoever fraudulently possesses, passes, utters, publishes, or sells, or attempts to pass, utter, publish, or sell, or brings into the United States, any such coin, knowing the same to be altered, defaced, mutilated, impaired, diminished, falsified, scaled, or lightened—

Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.
"

 

It is not illegal to melt, form, destroy, or otherwise modify US coins, including pennies, unless the objective is fraudulent or with the intent of selling the raw materials of the coins for profit. Projects that use coins as materials are entirely legal in the United States.



It is not illegal to deface coins BUT they can no longer be used anywhere for currency or you would be breaking the law. It is perfectly legal to drill a small hole in a nickel, paint a quarter, or bend a penny if you want.


Sometimes. According to Title 18, U. S. C. section 331, it is illegal to "fraudulently alter, deface, mutilate, impair, diminish, falsify, scale, or lighten any of the coins coined at the mints of the United States, or any foreign coins which are by law made current or are in actual use or circulation as money within the United States".

The issue with this is what "fraudulently" exactly means. According to the US mint itself, "the mere act of compressing coins into souvenirs is not illegal, without other factors being present" because it probably doesn't entail fraudulent intent (Legal to press pennies or other coins?)

The case remains however, that most of the activities that would involve destroying pennies are illegal, and that flattening them for souvenirs is an exception. In particular, when I first read this question I thought it was about the possibility of melting pennies and selling the metal for more than the value of the pennies (since it seems pennies are worth more than $0.01 in metal). This is very probably illegal because it should be fairly easy to argue that this is a fraudulent activity.

i hope this helps for all those who are fraid of bending a coin or two

 

CURRENCY yes, coinage no. the law for currency states

Title 18 Sec 333
Whoever mutilates, cuts, defaces, disfigures, or perforates, or unites or cements together, or does any other thing to any bank bill, draft, note, or other evidence of debt issued by any national banking association, or Federal Reserve bank, or the Federal Reserve System, with intent to render such bank bill, draft, note, or other evidence of debt unfit to be reissued, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than six months, or both.

No fraudulent intent required.

The question becomes whether they would consider that making them unfit to be reissued? You want them to circulate with your political message, if they (the power that be) don't, they would consider them to be unfit to be reissued which would make the stamping illegal.

 

i think you meant: "coinage, yes, bank notes, no"???

 

also, it is not me doing anything to "bank notes" nor coins, except removing dome from cicculation for collecting and sales, lol i just cut and pasted those law thingys

 

You've got the right idea about "fraudulent intent". But what you said was:

The coin absolutely does not have to be a "currently circulating issue" (whatever that may mean) to be considered intent to defraud. Altering a 1944-D cent to a 1914-D, or altering a 1916 Merc to a 1916-D, certainly can be done with fraudulent intent, regardless of whether they're a "currently circulating issue".

You don't have to spend an altered coin to commit fraud with it.

 

true, but that come under the collectibles laws they have for fraud in that case, i believe, heck, i am no lawyer, just know you can squash cents and i have sen nickels and half dollars as well in machiones, and sell them as souvenirs, there are thousands of machines for doing that, a friend of mine angie rosato (now deceased, (RIP),,,even wrote a book on the subject: https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/encyclopedia-modern-elongated-angelo-458445735 between when i was 12 and 19 i frequented his jewelry store and sold him hundreds of pounds of silver i used to get for him whenever i went to shows, he would load me up with silver chains to sell at flea market also, a great man....

 

heck, he is even mentioned as a manufacturee of them in wiki here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elongated_coin

 

found the law: The process of creating elongated coins is legal in the United States, South Africa and parts of Europe. In the United States, U.S. Code Title 18, Chapter 17, Section 331 prohibits "the mutilation, diminution and falsification of United States coinage." The foregoing statute, however, does not prohibit the mutilation of coins, if the mutilated coins are not used fraudulently, i.e., with the intention of creating counterfeit coinage or profiting from the base metal (the pre-1982 copper U.S. cent which, as of 2010, is worth more than one cent in the United States).[11][12] Because elongated coins are made mainly as souvenirs, mutilation for this purpose is legal.

 

Just to clarify, I think most of us understand that making elongated cents is legal. The same is true for these shrunken coins.