It's AGAINST THE LAW to do that to our coinage and yes, a smelter would refuse to do that.
I didn't recommend doing anything, I just said what it was worth.
In fact defacing the CURRENCY of the United States is a crime. I am fairly certain that restriction DOES NOT APPLY to coinage.
"While it is now legal to melt them down..."
Charles R. Nelson, "Macroeconomics: An Introduction",
Ch. 6, "Money, Banks, and the Federal Reserve" pp6
You're right about the bills; chances are, they aren't worth more than 15-20% over face value unless they are star notes, or a series that is worth more than usual.
However, it is perfectly legal, and is actually very common to melt US coinage. During the silver boom in the late 1970's, many Ben Franklin halves, Washington quarters, and even common-date Morgan dollars were melted for their silver.
Also, it is not illegal to deface either US currency or US coinage, unless it is done with fraudulent intent; i.e. if you try to alter the date to make it look like a rare coin, etc.
Chances are the stash that she found might be worth around 5K, but definitely not much more than that, unless there are some extreme rarities involved.
You're right about the bills; chances are, they aren't worth more than 15-20% over face value unless they are star notes, or a series that is worth more than usual.
However, it is perfectly legal, and is actually very common to melt US coinage. During the silver boom in the late 1970's, many Ben Franklin halves, Washington quarters, and even common-date Morgan dollars were melted for their silver.
Also, it is not illegal to deface either US currency or US coinage, unless it is done with fraudulent intent; i.e. if you try to alter the date to make it look like a rare coin, etc.
Chances are the stash that she found might be worth around 5K, but definitely not much more than that, unless there are some extreme rarities involved.
You're right about the bills; chances are, they aren't worth more than 15-20% over face value unless they are star notes, or a series that is worth more than usual.
However, it is perfectly legal, and is actually very common to melt US coinage. During the silver boom in the late 1970's, many Ben Franklin halves, Washington quarters, and even common-date Morgan dollars were melted for their silver.
Also, it is not illegal to deface either US currency or US coinage, unless it is done with fraudulent intent; i.e. if you try to alter the date to make it look like a rare coin, etc.
Chances are the stash that she found might be worth around 5K, but definitely not much more than that, unless there are some extreme rarities involved.