Defacing the coin of the realm

The euro 2 cent coin is almost exactly the same shape and size as the American 1 cent coin, except with a groove around the outer circumference. I don’t know what that translates to in UK currency.

I totally take on board what you say about a fraudster being able to remove metal from the center of a coin and replacing it with a base metal, but in the UK coinage and also in the Euro coinage, there is no precious metal whatsoever … unless copper, brass, zinc and aluminum are considered precious metals. Obviously if the coin contained gold , or even silver, a criminal intent would be apparent.

The reason I asked the question in the first place is that I am in the process of designing, manufacturing and hopefully selling in the very near future, a kinetic toy , the performance of which is enhanced by the placement of small added weights at strategic points.

I could of course supply boring old steel washers for the purpose, but I just figured it would be kinda cute , and possibly a selling point, (particularly for overseas sales) to offer 2p coins with the correct size hole drilled in the center .

I suspect that the DPP will probably turn a blind eye to my activities, even though they may be technically illegal, as there is obviously no intent to defraud, which is what all the various Coinage Acts were concerned about when they were passed
(and rightly so, in the days when coins did actually contain precious metals )

I am thinking I will go ahead and drill the 2p coins , and offer them openly, and see what happens.

If I get hung, drawn, and quartered, which is what used to happen to “coiners” in England back in the seventeenth century … well at least I will have achieved some small measure of fame and notoriety …

The US still strikes coins that include precious metals, like these. Of course, none of our everyday circulation coins contain anything more valuable than copper.

I see that all the time in the U.S. too–either writing or stamping done on the note. What amount of defacement of a dollar bill is required to make a note no longer legal tender?

Yes, I have seen such machines in the UK (though not recently). I have also, in the past, owned coins (openly on sale) that were “defaced” for use in conjuring tricks, such as a “shell penny”: a real penny hollowed out and slightly stretched so it will fit over another, enabling you to turn one penny into two (or vice-versa). Another coin had a hole drilled in it to attach it to a piece of elastic so you could make it disappear, another was stretched into an ellipse, so you could pretend you were able to stretch coins by hand. They were all clearly made from real coins.

I am also pretty sure these things were all technically illegal, though. It was just that the law was not very rigorously enforced with respect to occasional defacement of low-value coinage.

I suspect the same is true in the United States: it is illegal, but you are unlikely to be prosecuted for it unless you are doing it in large volume, or in connection with some other crime.

My boss has a bowl full of cross pennies on her desk at work.

I presume she’s facing a life sentence if security happens to notice it.

Defacing a coin for personal pleasure isn’t even technically illegal in the United States. To be illegal, it has to be done for fraudulent purposes (once, IIRC, there was a guy who painted nickels gold to fool people into thinking they were $5 coins). Also, for pennies and nickels only, it’s illegal to melt them for profit or export them for melting.

They may not be concerned with penny presses, but exporting and/or melting down of nickels and pre-1982 (copper) pennies is being treated as a real crime apparently.

The regulation exempts novelty uses:

When it comes to precious metals - my wife has a very nice gold pendant made from a half sovereign. http://www.thegoldbullion.co.uk/images/products/king-george-v-gold-half-sovereign.jpg

To hang it on a chain, the jeweller made a gold frame for it so that the coin remains undamaged. AFAIK these coins are still legal tender.

Apparently there is a legal issue. According to Wiki, the coin presses are legal in the US and many other places (the UK repealed a 1936 law making them technically illegal).

But:

Suspect you’d REALLY not want to try it in Thailand. King’s head on it and all.

I heard of one guy - a foreign tourist - who dropped a coin on the floor in a Thai bar (so far, so good - accidents happen), but it was spinning on the floor, and out of habit, he stomped on it.

Bar owner just told him to get out. Immediately.