Modern Nickel Counterstamps, No More Lies

Counterstamping coins is not illegal per-say but you cannot counterstamp them for the purpose of advertising a commercial venture. The most recent incident that I know of involved a promotion for the movie Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer in 2007. 20th Century Fox and The Franklin Mint created an advertising promo by applying Silver Surfer stickers to 40,000 California State Quarters. For their efforts, they received a Cease and Desist notice from the Treasury warning them of the consequences of their illegal actions.


http://www.usmint.gov/consumer/?act...silverSurfer

As far as I can tell, none of the counterstamps shown in this thread are promoting a commercial enterprise, they are being used moreso as a protest.

Cool,going to start searching for one today. Thanks for the heads up.

My understanding is that there's a legal difference between paper money and coins. Paper "federal reserve notes" are debt instruments which remain the property of the FED. The bearer (NOT owner!) may own the debt, but you do not own the instrument. So their defacement rules on paper are stricter. I heard that the "Where's George" people were asked to stop selling the rubber stamp for people to use. For some reason they argued that selling the rubber stamp and telling people to use it on currency was too far. Individuals can do it themselves, but selling them the device was considered... something.

Coins on the other hand (and I think this is correct) are considered a physical object, NOT intrinsically a debt instrument, and may be considered to be the personal property of the owner. So that altering or defacing them is just defacing your own property. The original defacement rule (that specifies "defacement with intent to defraud") was designed to counter certain specific fraudulent schemes. One was that someone would gold-plate a Shield nickel and then go to make a purchase with it. If the clerk was busy and did not look closely they might accept it as a Liberty $5 gold piece. The classic ruse would be to purchase a four cent item and lay down the coin. If the clerk catches on that it's a nickel, you just smile with a straight face and ask for a penny change. But if they just assume it's a quarter-eagle then you get your $4.96 in change and walk out. If you don't actually say "Here's five dollars" then it's difficult to prove larcenous intent. That one was popular for a while and was probably the impetus to that rule. Then when vending machines arrived on the scene people would file down pennies to the size of a dime to foil the validators in the machine. Those are both examples of defacement with intent to defraud.

Very interesting. First time I've heard of this. None found in central NC, yet.

I don't have the FSP ones, but I have lots of the NML and ETF ones. PM or email me. The pics are of exceptionally nice selected ones, they vary a lot. A collector would want at least one roll to pick through for the nicest ones... then just spend the rest to do your part for the project.
Tom

A fine, upstanding memeber here just helped me find a counterstamped (Ron Paul)
nickel, and asked for no repayment. So in order to pay it forward, I am going to
give away a similar trinket as a 'contest'. Something of interest to the newbies
or our youth members.

Thanks Earl!

Two rolls... cool! So now you have the opportunity to assist in the effort. The whole point is to get them into circulation. So go through and pick the 10 or 12 that you like the best for keepers, and then spend the rest. Aside from using them as ordinary pocket change you can:
* Leave them in the penny change trays at gas stations and convenience stores.
* Leave them in coin-return slots on vending machines and payphones.
* Drop them on the street or in other odd places where somebody might notice them.
* Donate as cheap door prizes at coin shows.
* Give them to people and point out the problems of the FED, use it as an opening to a discussion.
* Come up with new and creative ways of getting them into people's hands.
I know what the vendor is charging for these... and it's very very CHEAP!! It's essentially a subsidized effort with the goal to put the message out into the universe where it might be seen and cause some key person to have a thought that they might otherwise not have had. So you can either take advantage of the generosity of the seller and keep them out of public view, or you can accept your part in the effort and get them out there.

Definitely illegal to do this in Australia.
"It is a criminal offence under the Crimes (Currency) Act 1981 (Cth) to deface or destroy current Australian currency coins. It is also an offence to sell or possess current coins that have been defaced. Defacing a coin includes coating the surface of the money with any sort of material. The penalty for defacing coins , or selling or possessing money that has been defaced, is $5,000 or imprisonment for two years for an individual (or both), and $10,000 for a body corporate. You may also be guilty of the offence of making counterfeit money if you alter a genuine coin." http://www.ramint.gov.au/designs/ra...ns/using.cfm

Pity, could be a lot of fun to come up with additions.

Jeff