# Are the Clinton Joke quarters legal currency? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 11, 2013, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-clinton-joke-quarters-legal-currency/676035 "2013-12-11T01:46:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2015, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-clinton-joke-quarters-legal-currency/676035/21 "2015-08-17T23:04:19Z")
According to this [site](http://www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v08n46a13.html), they are overstruck quarters. Genuine U.S. quarters are overstruck with the additional images. They weigh nearly the same, so detection is difficult. There’s no mention of their legality, but if they’re sold as novelties with no intent to defraud, I imagine they’re legal as it has not been illegal to deface currency since 1973. If they get into circulation, though, bank tellers would treat them as counterfeit and notify the Secret Service. At nearly $5.00 apiece, though, I can’t imagine them knowingly being put into circulation. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2015, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-clinton-joke-quarters-legal-currency/676035/22 "2015-08-18T06:13:55Z")
On the other hand, the Secret Service might lower the boom on anything that even suggests counterfeit money, if they want to. Or TPTB tell them to. Or something. There was a case during the Nixon years. A novelty shop somewhere in the Bay Area (San Rafael?) had a batch of coffee mugs with a crudely hand-drawn dollar bill painted on the side, featuring a crudely hand-drawn portrait of Richard Nixon. The Secret Service raided the shop and confiscated all the mugs, accusing the shop of trafficking in counterfeit currency. Of course, it made nationwide headlines (the then-equivalent of going viral) and the Secret Service ended up backing down in great embarrassment. It was widely seen as a sign of the psychotic paranoia and hostility of the entire Nixon administration. ETA: Not sure if [this is exactly it](https://img1.etsystatic.com/064/1/6557494/il_570xN.779110695_rb88.jpg) but it might be ---
**Author:** ![Toy\_varen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e47774/32.png) [@Toy\_varen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toy_varen)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2015, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-clinton-joke-quarters-legal-currency/676035/23 "2015-08-18T11:58:02Z")
TL:DR: In general, there are laws restricting the production of joke currency. For paper money, they are usually: They must be larger or smaller than regular currency. They must be black. They must plainly state somewhere “NOT LEGAL CURRENCY” I haven’t seen the standards for coins, but I’m assuming something similar. However, it is also illegal to deface US currency. If the joke coins where restamped regular coins, they are illlegal to possess. I did have counterfiet coins once, and called the bank, but they were unsure where I should turn them in. ---
**Author:** ![andyaz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d07c76/32.png) [@andyaz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andyaz)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2016, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-clinton-joke-quarters-legal-currency/676035/24 "2016-10-10T19:03:25Z")
> [@Toy\_varen](#): > > TL:DR: In general, there are laws restricting the production of joke currency. For paper money, they are usually: > > They must be larger or smaller than regular currency. > They must be black. > They must plainly state somewhere “NOT LEGAL CURRENCY” > > I haven’t seen the standards for coins, but I’m assuming something similar. > > However, it is also illegal to deface US currency. If the joke coins where restamped regular coins, they are illlegal to possess. I did have counterfiet coins once, and called the bank, but they were unsure where I should turn them in. According to TimeWinder (above) it may not be illegal to deface coins, as long as it’s not done for fraudulent reasons. He cites the squashed penny machines found in amusement parks. The quarters that say Head Quarters are restamped real coins, but they are slightly larger, enough that they probably wouldn’t work in vending machines. However, I’m a cashier in a convenience store, and I accepted one from a customer 2 days ago. At the time, I thought there was something not right about it, but being just a quarter, I didn’t take time to inspect it closely until later. Even then, it took awhile to realize that it couldn’t be real, due to the subject matter and its size. I had to place a real quarter on top to be certain that it was larger. Of course, I traded it for one of my own quarters. It amazes me how often I get coins that don’t belong in circulation. I have many silver quarters, some silver halves, and one silver dime. A month ago, I even got a 1943 steel penny that looks uncirculated. I was a bit disappointed to find that it’s not worth more than $5, but that is 500 times my cost. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2016, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-clinton-joke-quarters-legal-currency/676035/25 "2016-10-10T19:56:26Z")
Just keep an eye out for a 1943 copper, because those are serious big bucks, and last I heard, they still weren’t all accounted for. ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2016, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-clinton-joke-quarters-legal-currency/676035/26 "2016-10-10T21:10:06Z")
From [18 U.S. Code § 485 - Coins or bars](https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/485): > [@](#): > > Whoever falsely makes, forges, or counterfeits any coin or bar in resemblance or similitude of any coin of a denomination higher than 5 cents or any gold or silver bar coined or stamped at any mint or assay office of the United States, or in resemblance or similitude of any foreign gold or silver coin current in the United States or in actual use and circulation as money within the United States; or > > Whoever passes, utters, publishes, sells, possesses, or brings into the United States any false, forged, or counterfeit coin or bar, knowing the same to be false, forged, or counterfeit, with intent to defraud any body politic or corporate, or any person, or attempts the commission of any offense described in this paragraph— > > Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than fifteen years, or both. So, “intent to defraud” seems to be the operative wording here. If one uses the Clinton Quarter in a parking meter, you could get 15 years in prison; but just possessing it as a novelty seems fine. I’m pulling State quarters out of circulation myself and imagine my surprise to find one with the San Francisco mint mark “S”. They are minted there but only as proof coins for collectors, never intended for circulation. I’m guessing so meth addict stole it and their dealer cashed it in as a quarter. The piece was pretty beat up, so it had been in circulation for a while. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2016, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-clinton-joke-quarters-legal-currency/676035/27 "2016-10-11T18:22:25Z")
The relevant question would be whether the coin was originally legal tender before the new image was struck on it. If the quarters were originally genuine coins, and someone put a bunch of them through a stamping machine that wold alter the design, they are still legal tender quarters. Mutilated quarters remain legal tender, and normally banks will remove them from circulation if their condition is overly noticeable. However, if they started out as blank metallic slugs that someone stamped to resemble quarters, then they are counterfeit, subject to the prescribed penalties. However, it is also a crime to intentionally mutilate currency, so there is the lesser offense of mutilating real coins. But if you get one in ordinary commerce, and didn’t mutilate it yourself, there is no guilt. When coins were made of silver, the soft material would wear quickly on countertops and pants pockets, and by the time a coin was 50 years old, it might have worn so badly that it would be worn flat, but if enough of the original design remained and could be recignized , they would still circulate as currency. Coins like this were very common in the 1950s [http://cdn.sbcgold.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/morgan-silver-dollar-p-1.jpg](http://cdn.sbcgold.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/morgan-silver-dollar-p-1.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2016, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-clinton-joke-quarters-legal-currency/676035/28 "2016-10-11T19:27:40Z")
From [“18 U.S. Code § 331 - Mutilation, diminution, and falsification of coins”](https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/331): > [@](#): > > Whoever fraudulently alters, defaces, mutilates, impairs, diminishes, falsifies, scales, or lightens any of the coins coined at the mints of the United States, or any foreign coins which are by law made current or are in actual use or circulation as money within the United States; or > > Whoever fraudulently possesses, passes, utters, publishes, or sells, or attempts to pass, utter, publish, or sell, or brings into the United States, any such coin, knowing the same to be altered, defaced, mutilated, impaired, diminished, falsified, scaled, or lightened— > > Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both. Again, the operative word is “fraudulently”. Filing off the ridge on a penny and using it as a dime in a parking meter may get 5 years in prison, but just using $100 bills as scratch paper seems to be fine. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2016, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-clinton-joke-quarters-legal-currency/676035/29 "2016-10-11T20:05:48Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Just keep an eye out for a 1943 copper, because those are serious big bucks, and last I heard, they still weren’t all accounted for. But be wary. A lot of apparent 1943 copper pennies are just normal 1943 steel pennies which have been given a copper electroplating. ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2016, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-clinton-joke-quarters-legal-currency/676035/30 "2016-10-13T04:55:15Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > But be wary. A lot of apparent 1943 copper pennies are just normal 1943 steel pennies which have been given a copper electroplating. If you have a 1944 penny, test it with a magnet. Some 1944 pennies were stamped on steel planchets and coated with copper. They may be worth big bucks too. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-clinton-joke-quarters-legal-currency/676035.md?page=1)