It is legal to press pennies. Coin Code Section 331-title 18 U.S. Government.
I suspect that it is also legal to melt down silver coins.
Posted on 05/30/2005 1:03:54 PM PDT by wagglebee
Linda Stafford has been going to garage sales for 30 years, and taking good-natured ribbing from her family all the while.
Now, the tables have turned.
Stafford has found more than $3,000 in bills dating from 1928 to 1953 in the bottom of a high-backed chair she bought at a garage sale — for two bucks.
"When we found the money, they could probably hear us screaming all over the neighborhood," said Stafford, 57.
She made the discovery while trying to make room in her garage for more furniture. When one of her daughters, Mandy Rath, heard something rattle in the chair, they removed the bottom. Placed inside a compartment were two paper packets, one with $10 in coins, the other with $3,060 in bills.
Stafford remembers what she paid for the chair, but not where she bought it.
"I know that I've had it out in our garage for at least a year, maybe two," she said.
But, Stafford was not sure how she would spend the money.
"Who knows?" she said. "I might spend it all at garage sales."
Perhaps the law about smelting was passed after the silver boom of the '70s. I remember hearing that a law was passed against doing so, but not when.
A law was passed around 1909 that legalized any alterations to American coins (including drilling holes, making jewelry, flattening on railroad tracks, etc.) as long as the alterations are not made in an attempt to deceive.
I have RED books and BLUE books ( just not current ones ), and unless things have changed radically, of late, used/worn/in circulation currency isn't worth all that much, if not extremely rare.
LOL...I'm talking about a much later law/s. :-)
Note to self:......... Look inside the old piano.
No laws since 1909 have been passed regarding melting or damaging coins.
Hey I had first dibs!
LOL! Agreed, you get first dibs. We'll take any "left-overs". :)
I allways keep every siver coin I find, every Silver Certificate etc
I just do it for a collection of oddball things that I think that my Grandkids will get a kick out of and maybe study some history or even make them some money or they can do what I did and sock it away for their Grandkids etc etc I have pictures, stamps, toys and other small worthless junk that (1) will be worth somthing one day or maybe (2) remind them of how much I loved them after I am gone.
Yup, some of my fondest memories are of watching my husband "explain" the art and history, along with numismatic "valuation" to one child or another along the years. We're still awaiting the first grandchild. :)
Anyway you slice it, "face value" is a bargain
TT
It certainly is, especially as silver certificates, 90% silver coins, etc., continue to appreciate daily. That the $3000 is worth "more" is a "given", although exactly how much "more" depends on *many* variables such as: date, mint mark, condition, scarcity for coins; series, date, signature, etc., for bills.
That's why we find the insistant comments that this money only has face value to be odd. :)
"Well, boo hoo. I once found $3,000 in a bank account."
Did a remodel on an old BofA changing it into a clothing store years ago and when we took out the night depository there was an envelope with $180 that had gotten wedged along side of the deposit box.
It was singed from the cutting torch but it was all still spendable!
Really? You collect old, worn, non-mint/just under mint, used paper money?
Then I'm giggling at you. :-)
Depends on the specific bill and condition, but your comments seem to cover both bills *and* coins and yes, I'll scarf up *any* silver coin that I come upon, along with copper and steel pennies. :)
And feel free to giggle if I can pass along your comments to our "dealer" friends. More than a fair trade. :)
I'll pass on your comments to my dealer friend. K? :-)
Unless for some strange reason there was a local law against it, it has never been illegal to make elongated coins in the US. Some countries, like the UK and Canada, have laws against it, because it is illegal to mutilate an image of the queen, but there have never been any federal laws against it in the US.
Maybe it was a local ordinance, but that would be strange, since currency falls under the Fed Gov pervue and not local. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm........
My parents grew up during the Depression, and tho dad never hid money, my mom hid money everywhere...in her little change purses, in the pockets of clothes hanging in the closet, in between the linens in the linen cupboard, in her shoes, anyplace she could think of...
When she got old, she got Alzheimers....but she still liked having money she could 'play' with and hide...so since she was living with me, and in my house, I would always just hand her a few bills, and let her go at it...she would disappear a few minutes later, without the money, and she could never remember where she put it... but she was so happy with her little cache of hidden money, even if she could not remember where she put it...
After she died, we went through most of her things...gads, nothing like having $1, 5$, $10, and $20 bills flying out at me, from all her little hiding places....I figure she was happy playing with and hiding her money, for it kept her smiling and busy, and years later, I had a nice little accumulation of money...
And...she didn't FIND the chair...she BOUGHT IT. It is now HER PROPERTY. Besides...who knows where that chair came from? Maybe the person selling it bought it from someone else...I think this is legtitimate for her to keep and claim as her own. They were selling...she bought for $2. A sale is a sale. I say good for her. Hoep she does a little good work with some of it though.
"It's not what condition the money is in now, after having been stashed away, but what was the condition when they were stashed away. That would determine the condition today."
True.
"I have RED books and BLUE books ( just not current ones ), and unless things have changed radically, of late, used/worn/in circulation currency isn't worth all that much, if not extremely rare."
As I said, it all depends on what you consider to be a lot of money. If I've got a dime that I can sell for 12cents, that would be a "profit" in and of itself. I can live with "silver" coins that range from G-4 to AU-50, although I prefer F-12 and above. Even G-4's appreciate with every passing year. :)
It's only "clad" coins that are practically worthless below MU and for good reason. :)
can you quote the law? It is my understanding that it is not against the law. I'm heading to google to prove it.
Be right back
My offer still stands, 1920 to 1950 coins, I will pay for shipping, charge me for counting and rolling.
It is legal to press pennies. Coin Code Section 331-title 18 U.S. Government.
I suspect that it is also legal to melt down silver coins.
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