Coin Melting Illegal In Us

[Dubh Aingeal]

The U.S. Mint is to outlaw the melting down or bulk export of coins. This has come about because the value of the precious metals contained in coins now exceeds their face value. The Mint would rather not have to replace pennies (at a cost of 1.73 cents per) or nickels (at 8.74 cents). The expectation is that Congress will mandate new compositions for some U.S. coins in 2007.

[Soulrev]

-=fires up the smelting pot=-

[torn asunder]

technically, i think it's been illegal for a while - i think they call it "defacing govt. property", or some such...

[BrassFusion]

What about those stupid machines that roll out a penny and make an imprint of the Mackinac Bridge or Mt. Rushmore on them? Are those illegal, too?

[torn asunder]

What about those stupid machines that roll out a penny and make an imprint of the Mackinac Bridge or Mt. Rushmore on them? Are those illegal, too?

no idea... just something i heard when i was a kid...

[Fierce Critter]

What about those stupid machines that roll out a penny and make an imprint of the Mackinac Bridge or Mt. Rushmore on them? Are those illegal, too?

My sister and I both collect those pennies.

I've longed wondered why they're legal in the face of the "defacement of federal property" thing.

[Zenji]

I think this ban on the melting or sell of pennies and nickels is very direct. I doubt there's any concern for smashing coins and stamping them in those little machines. The question here is that folks could take a copper penny, melt it down and sell it for 2 cents (as the raw material is worth).

I think they're more concerned with people making a profit ratio of 1.5 to the actual monetary value of the coin itself. It's kind of the same as scalping a ticket. You buy a ticket for $10 then sell it the day of the concert for $15. The value of the ticket has gone up so you're actually making a profit from it above the tickets original value. It's the same basic principle for the coins.

The other side of the article is the fact that it now costs the government more to make the coins than it did before. This doesn't seem to be unusual though as we've always done this over the years. Many original coins were silver, then when silver became more valuable than the face value of the coins they had to change to a different metal. Pretty soon all of our coins will be some space age polymer resin.

[pomba gira]

My sister and I both collect those pennies.

I've longed wondered why they're legal in the face of the "defacement of federal property" thing.

I've wondered about that too... I remember years ago hearing that making those bracelets by putting pennies on the railroad tracks was illegal. Maybe it's a question of whether they're rendered totally unusable or not. Even if there are already laws about defacing currency, I'm sure they need some that are more specific and provide for stiffer penalties... in many cases existing laws are very vaguely worded or don't go far enough to cover all the possibilities opened by new technologies or social trends.

[Vater Araignee]

For you resurrection complainers "My apologies" NOT!

Defacing currency is completely legal as long as it never re enters circulation.

The government views it has highly unlikely that you will pay 51¢ to smash and stamp a penny and then try to use it as a penny.

As I'm sure Spook would attest, if the government made an outright ban on defacement it would be a crushing blow to us and thousands of other practitioners.

In the same breath the government wouldn't want the lack of tax revenue that a ban would cause.

Another note the private destruction of currency actually helps slow inflation by making up for collectors.

Back on topic smelting currency and selling it at precious mettle value, runs the risk of those melted coins being repurchased by the fed (something they still technically own) and there by escalating inflation.

~~~The Warlock

[Destroit]

I have a solution to the problem, whenever we get those fucking Canadian pennies/nickels that we can't spend here hardly, we should melt those and make 'em into new monies. Who cares about Canada? Them, that's who.

[Vater Araignee]

I collect the square stater pennies, put them in rolls, and turn them into banks at par. Havent had a complaint that they have a chicks head on them yet.

Have you ever gotten their silver near a magnet? Put it this way if I smelted 20 lb. of Canadah's nickels and sold them at their base metal minus the contamination fee I might get five or six bucks.

I'd rather take them to a bank and get Canadian monopoly money then go to Harpo's and spend it at par.

[Scary Guy]

technically, i think it's been illegal for a while - i think they call it "defacing govt. property", or some such...

What about those stupid machines that roll out a penny and make an imprint of the Mackinac Bridge or Mt. Rushmore on them? Are those illegal, too?

http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=426715

[Vater Araignee]

http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=426715

Don't forget to read the whole thing and follow the links within, oh read the disclaimer also.

[Scary Guy]

Don't forget to read the whole thing and follow the links within, oh read the disclaimer also.

Oh I did. Unlike the bible I'm actually interested in this