Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2019/08/28/how-to-cut-the-heads-out-of-co.html
…
2 Likes
I assume for the nickel you could forego the hole and start cutting in right from the edge?
3 Likes
you forgot a step…go to jail.
Defacement of Currency
Defacement of currency is a violation of Title 18, Section 333 of the United States Code. Under this provision, currency defacement is generally defined as follows: Whoever mutilates, cuts, disfigures, perforates, 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, Federal Reserve Bank, or Federal Reserve System, with intent to render such item(s) unfit to be reissued, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than six months, or both.
1 Like
But the face is still perfectly intact! 
12 Likes
Off with their heads!
6 Likes
I wasn’t great in jewelry making class, but I did do a couple nice projects taking two kinds of metal, using a coping saw to cut out a design, and the solder them together and making a small container out of it.
4 Likes
Not actually a hacksaw. This is a jeweler’s saw and it’s made for this type of fine work. It’s designed to cut on the pull stroke.
6 Likes
My intent is shits and giggles. The being unfit to be reissued is an unintentional side effect.
2 Likes
Once the head is cut out, you create a statistical singularity if you flip the coin.
13 Likes
No one ever seems to actually get prosecuted for that besides forgers (changing the value of the currency through alteration), because intent is a big part of the law.
9 Likes
Yeah it’s interpreted as changing the money for fraudulent means. Artistic means are given a wide exception otherwise we can’t have hobo nickels.
8 Likes
How to get a head in finance.
11 Likes
Next question: why to cut the heads out of coins?
7 Likes
Penny squishers are legal. Apparently mutilating coins isn’t illegal, unless done for specific purposes, such as fraud. From the Elongated Coin wiki:
The foregoing statute, however, does not prohibit the mutilation of coins, if the mutilated coins are not used fraudulently, i.e., with the intention of creating counterfeit coinage or profiting from the base metal (the pre-1982 copper U.S. cent which, as of 2010, is worth more than one cent in the United States).[11][12]
8 Likes
“Daddy, why did you deface this coin?”
“I wanted you kids to get a head… get it, get a head”
You have now recieved your pun ishment for today.
6 Likes
Such beautiful work, but why not use soft jaws on the vise that don’t gouge the workpiece?
4 Likes
I’ve mashed several dollars worth of coins on railroad tracks decades ago, but I’d probably be at risk from a myriad of antiterrorist laws if I did so these days.
2 Likes
1 Like
It’s the best way to turn 82¢ into trash.
2 Likes
Wrong law. 18 U.S. Code § 333 applies to paper currency, not coins.
§ 331 applies to coins and you’re good here as long as there’s no fraudulent intent (like trying to repress a nickel into a quarter). If this were not the case then penny smashing machines would be illegal.
