On the TV in front of me is an infomercial for “Quarter Mania!” an infomercial that is selling collecters quarters…
Is this legal? I’ve been told that there are very strict laws regarding US currency. How does this slip through the loopholes?
Well, I’m not familiar with this exact service, but arguably they’re charging for the time and effort (i.e. getting hold of all the special state quarters so you don’t have to chase them) plus teh cheesy cardboard-and-plastic display folder you can use to show off your dorkiness to world at large.
The fancy-schmancy “National Collector’s Mint” coins advertised on TV used to mystify me, until I looked closely and saw they’re minted in the Commonwealth of the North Mariana Islands, which is technically a U.S. territory but not quite, kinda sorta maybe. It’s under U.S. control just enough to let them legally use the phrase “United States of America”, but apparantly independent enough to legally mint their own currency and get seigniorage from shiny-object-seeking mainlanders.
This recent thread http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=279604 contains a bunch of info on the topic.
The laws regarding American currency relate to its legal tender status – it must be accepted at its face value in payment of any debt, and supposedly if proferred and refused has the effect of eliminating said debt – and to offering false (i.e., counterfeit) representations of American currency.
Like everything else with physical existence other than human beings themselves, the actual physical objects that constitute American currency are a commodity which can be bought and sold in accordance with any laws governing the transactions. Coin and currency dealers make a good living doing precisely that.
If I offer “genu-wine dollar bills handled by Polycarp – only $4.95 each, plus $2.00 shipping and handling” – and there are actually people who would pay that price for such things, I’m breaking no law whatsoever – the value added is in their being guaranteed to have touched my fingers. (I hasten to add that this is hypothetical; I don’t have that big an ego! Honest! 
)
Likewise, if someone wants to pay $250.00 for a Lincoln cent that was minted in San Francisco in 1909, the government has no problem with that. What they would have a problem with is someone coining their own Lincoln cents, whether 1909-S or the present date, and representing them as American currency, or in someone refusing to accept 37 cents in coinage in payment for a first-class stamp.
So would that mean if I went to the HQ of Charter Financial with 1,000,000 pennies to pay off my car note and they refused to accept them I’d be free and clear on my car?
Somebody who really understands the present legal tender laws would have to answer that – at one time, there were ceilings on what was required to be accepted – 50 cents for pennies, $10 for “silver” coins, etc. – but in essence, and with any exceptions from remaining caps, that is the case. Expect a hot lawsuit where they try to collect – but in point of fact, the law as written would be on your side.
Technically, any store that refuses a $100 bill, not on the grounds that they can’t make change (i.e., you buy $5 in gas and a 50-cent newspaper, and proffer a $100 bill), but on the basis that it’s store policy (you drive in your big truck with the extra tank, pump $65 in gas, pick out $23.94 in groceries, and offer your $100 bill in payment – and they refuse it out of store policy, even though they could make the $11.06 in change), is breaking that law.
I’m not sure in case of a gas station they can ever refuse to accept a $100 bill. I drive in, pump in $20 of gas, and go to pay handing a $100 bill. That note does say its legal tender. If they refuse and I say I have nothing else, if they call the cops and I say to the cop “I tried to pay with this, and they refused. As this note says it is legal tender, I argue the debt is now void.” I say that it is their responsibility to be able to make change.
Ummm, no. A private business can do pretty much whatever they want.
http://www.ustreas.gov/education/faq/currency/legal-tender.html#q1
Not limited to private businesses. My county’s bus service accepts “exact change only.”
The US Mint is currently selling the 2004 50 State Quarters and the five corresponding Greetings from America stamps for those states for
for only $29.99
The master speaks.
I would gladly pay $4.95 for a Polycarp-fondled dollar bill, but there is no way I would pay $2.00 for shipping - that is just a rip-off. 
The Master spoke, but it does not address the OP’s question.
On a similar note: If you paid for money, and no longer want it, I will glady accept it.
No problem - I understand that PCM* Inc. offers a $6.95 deal that includes free shipping.
- Polycarp Currency Marketing
I recall reading that famous artist Salvadore Dali did something like that.
He would pay very small bills (like a 50¢ newspaper or a candy bar) with a check. Knowing that many of the merchants found his signature on the check more valuable, so they would frame it and display it in their shop. (Thus never cashing the check, so never deducting that money from his bank account.) Or maybe the merchant made money too, selling the 50¢ “Dali” check to some collector for much more. Whatever, Dali was only out the 2-4¢ cost of a check blank.