enter here for the money, courtesy of NCinDC
Amy Argetsinger and Roxanne Roberts muddied the water a bit yesterday in the Reliable Source column and perpetuated an old misunderstanding. They close their article about Edwina Rogers and her practice of wrapping small gifts with dollar bills by saying “While uncut currency is legal tender (you can cut around the bills), slicing them in half (as Rogers does in the clip) is technically considered defacement.” Well, sure, and so is writing in the margins of your paperback so you can get back to the saucy parts later. Unfortunately they’re hinting at the common belief that using those penny mushing machines and other “money art” constitutes committing a federal offense and might somehow get you in trouble.
The Treasury addresses this directly themselves on their website.
This statute means that you may be violating the law if you change the appearance of the coin and fraudulently represent it to be other than the altered coin that it is. As a matter of policy, the U.S. Mint does not promote coloring, plating or altering U.S. coinage: however, there are no sanctions against such activity absent fraudulent intent.
So feel free to keep making those little folding paper dolls with your $100 bills, so long as you don’t try to spend them later.
Well I used to say something in my profile about not quite being a “tinker, tailor, soldier, or spy” but Tom stole that for our about us page, so I guess I’ll have to find another way to express that I am a man of many interests.
Hmm, guess I just did.
My tastes run the gamut from sophomoric to Shakespeare and in my “professional” life I’ve sold things, served beer, written software, and carried heavy objects… sometimes at the same place. It’s that range of loves and activities that makes it so easy for me to love DC – we’ve got it all.
I think your PostRage (TM) is what is “hinting at the common belief” that money cutting is evil. I read that yesterday and did not suddenly think, “Oh no! The Post’s gossip column has made me realize my large collection of squished pennies is illegal. Run for the border!!!” Instead, I read it as them pointing out you’re not really supposed to do that before 127 nutjobs wrote irate letters to them saying “How dare you not point out that woman is not only amoral, but also a CRIMINAL!”
The key is their use of “TECHNICALLY considered.” Just as you point out, it’s TECHNICALLY defacement to write in your book. Does that mean your statement is hinting that dog-earring your page is defacement? This is less a case of them implying and more a case of you inferring, with that inference heavily influenced by your view of the Post.
Dude, it’s the gossip column. Lighten up and focus on the important things, like the fact that today is Talk Like a Pirate Day. Ahoy!
Oh, poop to you. I have plenty of PostRage(tm) (that is SO becoming a new category….) but this was more of a PostEyeRoll. I just thought it was an interesting little tidbit, and a quick google of “deface currency” turns up a LOT of pages with misconceptions.