Is it illegal to destroy pennies?
No. There is a Federal law that prohibits the defacing of currency, but it specifically makes it a crime to deface currency ONLY if done with the intent to commit fraud or deprive someone else of its value. So long as you own the penny you squish, it's legal. Richard 18 U.S.C. §331: Whoever fraudulently alters, defaces, mutilates, impairs, diminishes, falsifies, scales or lightens any of the coins coined at the mints of the United States, or any foreign coins which are by law made current or are in actual use or circulation as money within the United States; or whoever fraudulently possesses, passes, utters, publishes, or sells, or attempts to pass, utter, publish, or sell, or brings into the United States, any such coin, knowing the same to be altered, defaced, mutilated, impaired, diminished, falsified, scaled or lightened - shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.
Is it illegal to throw pennies in the garbage?
no keep them
Is it illegal to destroy money? Like melt and recycle pennies?
It's illegal to destroy money...."technically"... I've put several pennies through that penny presser at Walt Disney world though.... My kids have all the characters, so I guess we're guilty of about 7 counts of destroying federal property. my defense... Mickey Mouse made me do it.
Is it Illegal to destroy a penny?
I was wondering if I could rip apart a penny for the copper and zinc, and try to make a battery out of it... but to what I remember the law states that it is illegal to. But on the other hand, I remember that science classes put pennies in acid, and pennies cut in half, to show how acidic corrosion works.
How can one legally collect and sell pre-1982 US copper pennies for their melt value?
It certainly would be legal to sell or trade pennies at values higher than their face value, including their melt value. However, actually melting them ( and also nickels) would be illegal at least according to this press release off of the us mint's website.http://www.usmint.gov/pressroom/...This would seem to preclude collecting them as part of a scrap metal drive, especially if the intent is to melt them.
Theoretically could you take a few pallets of pennies from the US to Mexico, then have them sold for scrap since you would no longer be in US jurisdiction?
Yes, this is theoretically possible. It is illegal, but tons of illegal goods shuffle across our border. It’s unlikely one of our astute K-9 units would pick up on your pallet of pennies.Quoting from this press release from the US Mint, Final Rule Limits Exportation & Melting of CoinsSpecifically, the newly enacted final regulation prohibits, with certain exceptions, the exportation, melting or treatment of one–cent and 5–cent coins. Some of the exceptions allow for small amounts of these coins to be exported as pocket change, and for recreational and numismatic purposes. Other exceptions include the treatment of minor quantities of these coins for educational, amusement, novelty, jewelry and similar purposes. However, the public should review the regulation for precise terms and limitations of the exceptions.Mathematically the idea isn’t crazy. 1901–1982 pennies have a base metal value roughly double the face value of the coin. You can track those values here: Coinflation.com Values for US Coins.I, personally, don’t see the rate of return as worth it. A couple of thousand pounds of pennies isn’t worth a $10,000 fine and the risk of prison time.If you are considering this, contact an attorney first. I believe the rules are only for exporting and melting coins. If I read it correctly it might be legal to melt them domestically. I’m not a lawyer, and I’m definitely not your lawyer, so you shouldn’t take my word for it.
Is it legal for me to sell my Canadian pennies to a scrapper or metal recycler in the US who will pay me the metal value of the coins vice the face value?
Legal ?-yesPractical? -probably not.The last few billion Canadian pennies made were 95% steel covered with a very thin layer of copper. Steel probably isn’t worth much to a recycler (and even less if it’s mixed with something else) This site says steel is worth $165 per metric tonne ( 1000 kg)- that’s a lot of pennies. A kilogram of steel pennies would be worth 16 and half cents as scrap. Far less than their face value.Before they were made of steel they were mostly zinc. You have to go back to the mid- 1990’s to find mostly copper pennies.I see that you live in Ontario near Ottawa ; given rather high US shipping rates by pretty much all methods, and the fact coins are heavy for this to be a paying proposition you would likely have to a) have a lot of old (copper) pennies and b) take them across the border and ship them from within the US if you happened to be going in or near there.You’ll probably find out you’d be further ahead just rolling them up and taking them to a bank. (They are still legal tender- another answer states they are not; the fact they are out of production does not affect their status as legal tender.)
Is it illegal to destroy money?
No. You can light your cigar with a $100 bill if you want. You can cut away the background on an old silver dollar to make a pendant of an eagle if you want, too. What you CAN'T do is to deface money with the intent to defraud; for instance, cut one corner off each of 4 $100 bills, paste those corners on a $1 bill and pass the resulting wad of five bills off as $500 to an unsuspecting target.
Can you sell pennies as copper scrap metal?
No, you cannot sell pennies as copper scrap metal. For one reason, it's money and it's illegal for citizen's to destroy it. For another reason, most pennies these days are not fully copper, so you couldn't get the scrap rate for copper if you wanted to.