Rarely do I receive one of these bills, but did yesterday.
When typing in the tracking information at their website, (it had only been admitted once), the originator thanked ‘us’ for tracking this bill and added, Did you notice it was sherlocked?
What does THAT mean??
Does it have anything to do with the fact the wheresgeorge was not stamped in red ink, like most of them are; rather, handwritten very small in red ink on the reverse side?
Thanks! This has me puzzled.
According to the glossary at Where’s George?:
Edited title for the benefit of those who have not heard of this site.
Colibri
General Questions Moderator
Thank you!
I find that a most interesting term–“sherlocked”!
If it was not marked at all it would be stealth. If it was only marked on the back it would be a Chicken George.
I hope you registered for the site. Earn, mark, spend. We need more people!
I’ve had two of these bills in the last few years. One was sherlocked and the other was stamped.
I hope you entered them.
Is it legal to write on bank notes in the US? It certainly isn’t in the UK.
Concerning notes, the Currency and Bank Notes Act 1928 says If any person prints, or stamps, or by any means impresses, on any bank note any words, letters or figures, he shall, in respect of each offence, be liable on summary conviction to a penalty not exceeding one pound. The penalty was changed to 25 in 1977 (Criminal Law Act, s.31) and to 200 in 1982 (Criminal Justice Act, s.46).
Looks to be illegal in the US too.
US Code Title 18 Section 333
Whoever mutilates, cuts, defaces, disfigures, or perforates, or
unites or cements together, or does any other thing to any bank
bill, draft, note, or other evidence of debt issued by any national
banking association, or Federal Reserve bank, or the Federal
Reserve System, with intent to render such bank bill, draft, note,
or other evidence of debt unfit to be reissued, shall be fined
under this title or imprisoned not more than six months, or both.
Pretty difficult to enforce, I guess, because I’ve certainly seen many British notes with numbers scribbled on, etc. (Although that intent part in the US code looks like a loophole.)
As is explained on the wheres george site it is illegal to deface US currency. The law defines ‘illegal’ defacement as defacement that renders bills unfit to be re-issued. Just stamping it is not illegal.
I’ve been on the site for a while. I know that that Hank, the owner of the site, was visited by the US Secret Service when it started up. He was investigated and he was cleared of any wrong doing. They did not come out and endorse the site but they found that he was not doing anything wrong. They wanted him to make clear that it was fine to mark bills and spend them normally. What is not allowed is withdrawing money, marking and entering the bills, and dumping them back in the bank. I know some might argue that it is still illegal by the law but I will take the Secret Service’s word for it.
Here is the FAQ.
I’ve bolded the important part for you. Hope that helps.
I got one years ago when it was still pretty popular. I don’t recall exactly why I didn’t enter the information - I just recall it was too much work for a lark and I clicked away.
If a bill is completely unmarked, how do you know that it’s being tracked by wheresgeorge?
You don’t. You find out when you enter the SN and discover it’s already being tracked.
If marking on money was a crime no matter what than banks, stores, etc would be in hotter water than a dinner lobster. It’ common practice I’ve noticed for them to mark larger bills with a marker when handed them at the register. I don’t know why.
I always stores using the marker was something to do with checking for forgeries…
I’ve found bills marked with Where’s George and put in my entry for it. Unfortunately, only one has been entered since I put mine in.
I think it’s a cool thing, but not everyone does it and so you don’t always get to see where your bill ended up.
Yes, it’s a counterfeit currency detector pen. It contains an iodine solution which reacts with the starch in ordinary paper, turning black. Currency paper isn’t really paper at all, it’s a cotton/linen blend very much like stiff felt and contains no starch. On genuine currency, the iodine remains yellow to yellowish-brown.
As you’ll note, I’d already acknowledged the key clause in the last part of my post.
But thanks anyway.
You seemed unsure. I wanted to make it clear that the intent part is key.
Everyone ignores this stupid law though, so who cares?