Re: [piecepack] Questions about pennies

[George Harnish <lefou23@...>]

On Sunday, August 8, 2004, at 10:00  PM, Martin Willett wrote:

> As a relative newbie, I don't know if this has been discussed much, but
> I'm just curious --
<snip>
> c) for those who are also into "Where's George" and the world of
> coinage, at what point has a penny been made "unspendable" (crushed by 
> a
> train? painted white?) and therefore a federal crime has been 
> committed?

Most likely, a clerk or shopkeeper will tell you if they won't take 
your penny. A federal crime is only committed by defacing $5 or more. 
(Some local protesters were burinng  $1 bills a while back for some 
reason or another in front of police, and that was their comment. On 
the other hand, I'm not certain that it's a crime to deface any money 
once it's yours. In other words, I'm not a lawyer and may not be the 
best source for legal advice.) Passing counterfeit money is another 
issue.

> BTW, I'm also planning on trying the Sizzix sledgehammer on various
> substrates as soon as it arrives. Hope my kitchen table holds up.

I caution you to use a moderately disposable cutting mat under the 
stuff you're cutting. It doesn't take much to punch through cardstock 
into a mat/table top/book cover...