When is an error coin legal tender, and when is it not?
Zoins
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Similar to how US bills need to have two serial numbers to be legal tender, what's the minimum amount of information necessary on a coin to be legal tender?
I imagine minimally a denomination and country are necessary, but I'm not exactly sure.
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Edit... Hmm, it needs to function in commerce. People need to recognize the intended denomination I would imagine. If it is a coin that can normally be used in vending machines and the machine can't recognize it within tolerances then...
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Interesting question.
As a child camping in Lancaster County wondering thru large boulders, a cave was created.
As I went in , I found a wallet with (cant remember exactly) a couple of 20's that were destroyed over time,.
I took the wallet to the bank and the teller told me As long as I have a complete serial No. attached to the denomination
I would be given that amount.
Destroyed is the key word here, But as a child it was cool.
Indiana Jones, eat your heart out.
I've never thought about it, but are coins actually "Legal Tender"?
But many coins don't circulate nor would they work in vending machines.
Although when/if the baseball or basketball half dollars drop to close to face value I plan to flatten one down and see if it will work in the self checkout at the supermarket.
Section 102 of the Coinage Act of 1965 provides that “[a]ll coins and currencies of the United States… shall be legal tender for all debts, public and private, public charges, taxes, duties, and dues.” If it is recognizable as a U.S. coin (as opposed to nail or sanding disk paper) to the average merchant, it should be legal tender under the plain meaning of the Coinage Act. There is no case law specific to error coins I am aware of, but the question of when a coin loses its legal tender status have recognized that as long as a coin has only incurred natural abrasion and is recognizable as a U.S. coin, it is still legal tender. Those cases all predate the Coinage Act.
Banks require 51% of the bill in order to replace it, if I recall correctly.
Looking for Top Pop Mercury Dime Varieties & High Grade Mercury Dime Toners.
@Zoins
since no coins that are errors are supposed to leave the mint, then none of them should be legal tender.
exceptions would be errors within a predefined tolerance/designation etc. and then the "error" is too minor to matter.
does this extend to rpm, ddo etc. i have never seen that language and therefore cannot comment. they do intentionally repunch, rehub etc. so the band is a little broader than may be obvious.
Read this again. "If it is a coin that can normally be used in vending machines and the machine can't recognize it within tolerances then..."
Looking for Top Pop Mercury Dime Varieties & High Grade Mercury Dime Toners.
Consider it re-read.
Now what criteria do we use for non circulating legal tender and their errors?
And why does a private vending machine get to determine what is legal tender? Most modern vending machines reject silver coins - are they no longer legal tender?
One could argue that any coin that was delivered out of the mint for value is legal tender since face value was paid for it.
Then there are coins struck on wrong or foreign planchets....they do not meet the criteria set forth in the authorizing legislation.
Too many questions.....
Interesting question....@Zoins....
And one I had never thought about.
It's legal tender status only matters if it's worth more spent as face value than sold as a collectors item.
So five. Five angels can dance on it.
Liberty: Parent of Science & Industry
Any difference in the criteria for legal status for Mint produced errors within premium products, such as proof sets,commemorative's,ASE's etc.
Very interesting question ... which I cannot answer.
I believe the initial question would have to be answered by a legal authority at the Treasury department. There are so many 'what ifs' that have been mentioned and even more that can be imagined. Size, shape, material, denomination - If all are recognizable as typical, then certainly they could be used. As conditions of those criteria change, then the vendor could logically refuse them. Legally, I have not seen a detailed definition. Cheers, RickO
I hope this is a hypothetical and rhetorical question.
Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
"Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
"Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire