WWTBAM Bored

Is stamping the bills illegal, as in defacing currency?

One of my Colorado colleagues wants to stamp bills with stuff like “Not To Be Used To Bribe Politicians.”

Any help appreciated.

SportsFan68 wrote:Is stamping the bills illegal, as in defacing currency?

One of my Colorado colleagues wants to stamp bills with stuff like “Not To Be Used To Bribe Politicians.”

Any help appreciated.

From the WG site:

#8 Is it legal to write on or mark currency?
Where's George? does not encourage the defacement of U.S. Currency. The law defines 'illegal' defacement as defacement that renders bills unfit to be re-issued. For the legal details from the U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing, please Click Here

From that link on the Federal Reserve's website:

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.


While stamping or marking on bills could be interpreted as defacement in the strictest sense of the law, the Secret Service has more important things to do than try and track down every person who writes on dollar bills... especially since anyone who uses WG can verify that these bills very often do stay in circulation for their normal lifespan (and even longer), thus aren't being rendered "unfit to be reissued."

The "Not To Be Used To Bribe Politicians" is a common stamp that I've seen a few times, along with the speech bubble "I Grew Hemp" next to Washington's portrait...

lb13

One thing I'll add is that if someone is going to write or stamp something on their money is to not spend those bills in mass quantities at one place or deposit such quantities in the bank. That CAN attract suspicion, and is one of WG's biggest no-nos (User accounts will be terminated if word gets back to the site's owner). For casual use, however, other than the occasional snippy cashier, nobody official or unofficial is going to care about marking bills...

lb13

I’ve always enjoyed the fact that using those pens to detect counterfeit bills was illegal

Thanks, LB!