Defaced coins (old newspaper article)

[Kentucky Kache]

From old newspaper (1898)

A Federal law has gone into effect concerning which the
average citizen knows but little. It is an act approved March
2, 1897, providing that gold and silver coins shall not be
mutilated, defaced, diminished, falsified, scaled or lightened
and a penalty of five years imprisonment and a $2000 fine is
fixed for such offence. It is also contrary to attempt to pass any
coin that is disfigured or lightened, the same penalty being
prescribed for this offense as for the other. Hereafter the
possessor of a perforated or mutilated coin must not attempt to
pass it, even for a less sum than it's face value. Beware of bad
coins; they may get you into trouble. This law applies, it is
presumed, to church contributions for preachers.
(end of article)

With such a stiff penalty, I wonder what most people did with coins like this.

 

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[RGINN]

Strange, I was just reading something about this while looking up coin prices. The main intent of the law I believe was to prevent folks from shaving silver and gold from coins. It all applied to fraudulent intent. If you were converting a coin to represent a different (and more valuable) denomination, you were in trouble. Converting coins into rings, making buttons out of buffalo nickels, carving 'hobo' nickels, is apparently not illegal, as I understood it, as long as you are not trying to defraud anyone.

 

[Kentucky Kache]

Strange, I was just reading something about this while looking up coin prices. The main intent of the law I believe was to prevent folks from shaving silver and gold from coins. It all applied to fraudulent intent. If you were converting a coin to represent a different (and more valuable) denomination, you were in trouble. Converting coins into rings, making buttons out of buffalo nickels, carving 'hobo' nickels, is apparently not illegal, as I understood it, as long as you are not trying to defraud anyone.

What do think most people would had done if the got hold of a coin that had been tampered with? After reading that article, I would have been afraid to spend such a coin.

 

[RGINN]

You're pretty much right on that, double K. Most storekeepers wouldn't have accepted them in the old days and most folks wouldn't have wanted them in change. (just like I don't want the Canadian quarters they try to foist off on me) I have one modern quarter, which is still perfectly legal tender, that is stamped 'WORTH $25 IN STORE' on it, and I sure would like to figure out what store that is.

 

[minton7]

saw some JFK halves while roll hunting once that had bullet holes inthe heads.... very sad, eerie, wrong and did i mention sad

 

[stefen]

Some defaced coins such as the 'Hobo Nickles' are highly collectable and range from a few bucks to many thousands of dollars...many created from the Civil War period thru the 1930's Depression era...

 

[Frankn]

Heck, they have machines that roll impressions on to pennies in Disney world and other places so it must be legal to modify coins.
By the way, I think the Canadian coins are worth more than ours now.
Did you ever notice that Mexican 5cent coins are the same size as our quarter!

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