NBC Article: Obama quarters are showing up in circulation...Why? "Only worth a quarter"
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Is the Obama Quarter for Real?
If it looks like a quarter and the store accepts it ...
By ROSEANNE COLLETTI
Updated 9:37 AM EST, Tue, Mar 2, 2010
They don't look like regular quarters. The small discs actually look fake.
"These are the new Obama quarters," explained the clerk at a Yonkers UPS store as she handed over change.
Huh? Doesn't it take an act of Congress to put a person on coin or currency and doesn't that person have to be deceased?
The Obama quarters are gold plated and bear a picture -- baby pictures, in some cases -- of the 44th president on one side. Regular quarters are engraved with the face of George Washington and made of copper and nickel.
In the case of the Obama quarter, a decal of Barack covers the engraving of George. Nonetheless, the store clerk insisted the Obamized 25-cent pieces were authentic because she got them from the Webster Bank a few blocks away.
Branch manager David Delgado said customers deposited the coins and the bank recirculated them to other customers.
"I have a store and give [them] to my customers as change," said Joe Sagman, who owns a lingerie store at the Cross County Mall.
"These are real coins turned into novelty items, "said Ed Steadham, a Webster Bank spokesman.
But is an altered coin still currency? As long as you're not trying to cheat anybody with one and it's accepted by the other party, it is, according to Michael White of the U.S. Mint.
Dubious, we tested it out. But when we bought a soda from a Manhattan street vendor using one of the coins, we were surprised by his lack of curiosity.
"This is the second time I've seen one," said Alberto Delacruz.
The coins are legal tender, but that doesn't make them a rare collector's item.
"They will never be worth more than a quarter, " said David Heller, the owner of F.H. Coins and Collectibles in Manhattan.
Heller explained that once a coin is altered it loses it's value from a coin collector's viewpoint and becomes merely a souvenir.
Even though they look like collectibles, the Obama quarters are showing up in circulation because those who have them have realized they're only worth a quarter so the coins may as well be put to use.
"Private companies just made so many of them after the election," said Heller. "They're leftovers or people who bought them have finally figured out they're only worth face value and so they might as well use them as money."
Altering a coin is considered defacing it and there is a federal law against it when fraudulent intent is involved. That's the clearest explanation we could glean from the Treasury, U.S. Mint, and Secret Service. The U.S. Attorney's Office in Manhattan would only say it doesn't comment on cases it is not actively investigating.
The denomination does make a difference, however. While an embellished quarter may get you a wink and a pass, fudging Ben Franklin off a $100 bill may net you some unwanted scrutiny.
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If it looks like a quarter and the store accepts it ...
By ROSEANNE COLLETTI
Updated 9:37 AM EST, Tue, Mar 2, 2010
They don't look like regular quarters. The small discs actually look fake.
"These are the new Obama quarters," explained the clerk at a Yonkers UPS store as she handed over change.
Huh? Doesn't it take an act of Congress to put a person on coin or currency and doesn't that person have to be deceased?
The Obama quarters are gold plated and bear a picture -- baby pictures, in some cases -- of the 44th president on one side. Regular quarters are engraved with the face of George Washington and made of copper and nickel.
In the case of the Obama quarter, a decal of Barack covers the engraving of George. Nonetheless, the store clerk insisted the Obamized 25-cent pieces were authentic because she got them from the Webster Bank a few blocks away.
Branch manager David Delgado said customers deposited the coins and the bank recirculated them to other customers.
"I have a store and give [them] to my customers as change," said Joe Sagman, who owns a lingerie store at the Cross County Mall.
"These are real coins turned into novelty items, "said Ed Steadham, a Webster Bank spokesman.
But is an altered coin still currency? As long as you're not trying to cheat anybody with one and it's accepted by the other party, it is, according to Michael White of the U.S. Mint.
Dubious, we tested it out. But when we bought a soda from a Manhattan street vendor using one of the coins, we were surprised by his lack of curiosity.
"This is the second time I've seen one," said Alberto Delacruz.
The coins are legal tender, but that doesn't make them a rare collector's item.
"They will never be worth more than a quarter, " said David Heller, the owner of F.H. Coins and Collectibles in Manhattan.
Heller explained that once a coin is altered it loses it's value from a coin collector's viewpoint and becomes merely a souvenir.
Even though they look like collectibles, the Obama quarters are showing up in circulation because those who have them have realized they're only worth a quarter so the coins may as well be put to use.
"Private companies just made so many of them after the election," said Heller. "They're leftovers or people who bought them have finally figured out they're only worth face value and so they might as well use them as money."
Altering a coin is considered defacing it and there is a federal law against it when fraudulent intent is involved. That's the clearest explanation we could glean from the Treasury, U.S. Mint, and Secret Service. The U.S. Attorney's Office in Manhattan would only say it doesn't comment on cases it is not actively investigating.
The denomination does make a difference, however. While an embellished quarter may get you a wink and a pass, fudging Ben Franklin off a $100 bill may net you some unwanted scrutiny.
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Comments
.....gee, i'd love some of THOSE!
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
I'm aware that many (if not most) forum members and coin people aren't fans of Mr. Obama, but there are still plenty of people in this country (don't forget those uninvolved with coin collecting) who, for a variety of reasons that may seem foreign or stupid to a naysayer, are still fond of him. Although you don't like those coins yourself, somebody else may find those coins collectible, endearing and suitable for a keepsake. It's a big world out there and sentiments harbored by coin people and their aquaintances do not necessarily reflect those of the rest of society.
If you don't like those coins then don't save them and move on. It isn't necessary to go the extra mile to disparage the subject, image or concept of the coins or the people that may like them.
Authorized dealer for PCGS, PCGS Currency, NGC, NCS, PMG, CAC. Member of the PNG, ANA. Member dealer of CoinPlex and CCE/FACTS as "CH5"
<< <i>Although you don't like those coins yourself, somebody else may find those coins collectible, endearing and suitable for a keepsake. It's a big world out there and sentiments harbored by coin people and their aquaintances do not necessarily reflect those of the rest of society. >>
As I'm fond of saying -- "Some people pay for what others pay to avoid."
60 years into this hobby and I'm still working on my Lincoln set!
<< <i>But is an altered coin still currency? As long as you're not trying to cheat anybody with one and it's accepted by the other party, it is, according to Michael White of the U.S. Mint. >>
Quite a different stance from the Silver Surfer quarter statement:
"The U.S. Mint said in a news release Friday that it learned of the promotional quarter this week and advised the studio and The Franklin Mint they were breaking the law. It is illegal to turn a coin into an advertising vehicle, and violators can face a fine."
I see absolutely no difference in "advertising" the seated President over some movie promotion.
Perhaps if they'd left the webpage off?
The name is LEE!
<< <i>
I see absolutely no difference in "advertising" the seated President over some movie promotion.
>>
I think the difference is the silver surfer was advertising a movie that stood to financially gain, advertising a person (the president) would be a much harder sell for misuse of the coins in my opinion.
Granted it's not official - but has anyone ever complained that George Washington being on the quarter "promoted" his image?
Whatever you are, be a good one. ---- Abraham Lincoln
www.brunkauctions.com
below is a thread i posted on the darkside forum some time ago, original work cited.....i feel it is appropriate here (written from the standpoint of the counterstamped coin itself)
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The Times of Wednesday, Sept. 25, 1850 included the following letter:
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THE COMPLAINT OF A PENNY
To the Editor of the Times
Sir,
Bill-sticking and advertising were formerly confined to boards and dead walls. Driven off even these places, as a common nuisance, by the gentle hint, 'Bill-stickers beware', the practice has since intruded itself into higher regions and a company has been established for plastering over and defacing every decent vehicle upon the road or railway. If this can't be cured it must be endured. But, Sir, is it to be endured that the current coin of the realm is to be defaced, without paying for it, by a practice long since driven off dead walls? I am a Penny -- 'Dei gratia,' &c. was my motto, stamped upon me at my birth, and after the squeeze I got over the lesson I thought my loyalty must be indelible. But, alas! I was mistaken, for it has been obliterated altogether, and round the Royal head I now bear the contemptible advertisement of 'Lloyd's Weekly Newspaper, 3d. post free'. Such, Sir is my present motto, and upon both sides. Permit me to ask, is this sort of mutilation to be extended to my richer relatives -- halfcrowns and sovereigns? or am I and my copper tribe of such trumpery consideration that we may be mutilated without redress?
In obedience to your regulations I enclose myself as a guarantee for what I state, and look to you for the publication of my complaint. It is quite against my will, I assure you, that I am thus made to intrude upon your columns. I wish people would confine their vulgar advertisements to you, and pay for them like honest folk, if they are worth it. I come of a good family, and always was what I professed to be till now. But if our genuine badge is to be destroyed, who will be bound to receive us in change? Certain I am that in my present state of degredation I am not honestly worth.........
ONE PENNY
Parliament Street
Sept. 24
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photos used by permission from our very own Jeremy aka airplanenut (thanks again!!)
"Letter to the Editor" copied from British Countermarks on Copper & Bronze Coins (J. Gavin Scott, 1975 Spink & Son)
also posted on U.S. Forum
www.brunkauctions.com
Get people to spend their change instead of keep it?
I do not know what to say other than:
"Barack Hussein Obama, ...... mmm,............ mmm,...........mmm. Barack Hussein Obama, .......... mmm,......... mmm,............ mmm."
No doubt many people would be very interested in obtaining the pictured items as a collectible keepsake. No doubt many other people would not be interested.
The idea of putting political ideology is in it infancy. I got a stack of $100 bills recently with Ron Paul for President stamped on them. They spend too.
<< <i>Gee.
I do not know what to say other than:
"Barack Hussein Obama, ...... mmm,............ mmm,...........mmm. Barack Hussein Obama, .......... mmm,......... mmm,............ mmm."
No doubt many people would be very interested in obtaining the pictured items as a collectible keepsake. No doubt many other people would not be interested. >>
Okay, the president's middle name was mentioned even during the inaguration and during his oath. Does saying "Hussein" over and over again give some people a high or an effect the same way an injection of heroin does? If it does, it would be something I just wouldn't understand.
Authorized dealer for PCGS, PCGS Currency, NGC, NCS, PMG, CAC. Member of the PNG, ANA. Member dealer of CoinPlex and CCE/FACTS as "CH5"
<< <i>
<< <i>Gee.
I do not know what to say other than:
"Barack Hussein Obama, ...... mmm,............ mmm,...........mmm. Barack Hussein Obama, .......... mmm,......... mmm,............ mmm."
No doubt many people would be very interested in obtaining the pictured items as a collectible keepsake. No doubt many other people would not be interested. >>
Okay, the president's middle name was mentioned even during the inaguration and during his oath. Does saying "Hussein" over and over again give some people a high or an effect the same way an injection of heroin does? If it does, it would be something I just wouldn't understand. >>
Would rather have a stupid middle name than a stupid president.
Many members on this forum that now it cannot fit in my signature. Please ask for entire list.
Iwould posit that a president has substantial financial gain at stake and could easily benefit from illegal advertising on coinage.
>>The idea of putting political ideology is in it infancy>>
there's nothing new under the sun, Rick.......
www.brunkauctions.com
who would do THAT?!?!?!
speaking of stickers....
with glue....
and coins...
any long term threat to the health of the coin from the glue?
and those stickers look like they come from an ink jet... will the ink bleed in the sticker over time?
Even if I were a collector... I'd be wary of collecting them until those questions were answered...
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
MMM...MMM...MMM... Barrack Husssein Obama...MMM...MMM...MMM...
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
Ill edit mine too. No sense in being pissy.
The first photo in this thread shows coins with a rim color that looks like presidential dollars. I may be mistaken.
John
Never Mind
I love it. Thanks Walmann
<< <i>Would rather have a stupid middle name than a stupid president. >>
- Why disparage the man's middle name?
I remember seeing the advertisements on television, but can't remember selling price - as it $9.95/ ?
I still am looking for one of the Fantastic Four Silver Surfer quarters - but don't want to pay $30 for it.
<< <i>
Altering a coin is considered defacing it and there is a federal law against it when fraudulent intent is involved. That's the clearest explanation we could glean from the Treasury, U.S. Mint, and Secret Service. The U.S. Attorney's Office in Manhattan would only say it doesn't comment on cases it is not actively investigating.
] >>
This is illegal pure and simple.
If these are continuing to enter circulation then we have a right to know why there is no investigation
from local law enforcement or the Secret Service. A few of these or even many bouncing around briefly
in a small area is no big deal but if this is still occurring it must be stopped.
I'd wager the average guy couldn't find a bank anywhere that would accept bags of defaced quarters
especially on a regular basis. The bank is probably breaking a law as well.
It would be an embarrassment to the country for Obama to to be on all our coins and a bigger embar-
rassment to have all our coins advertising politicians and other products and services.
<< <i>I can't stop laughing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! >>
Why ?
This is change you can believe in.
``https://ebay.us/m/KxolR5
<< <i>
<< <i>I can't stop laughing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! >>
Why ?
This is change you can believe in. >>
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BONGO HURTLES ALONG THE RAIN SODDEN HIGHWAY OF LIFE ON UNDERINFLATED BALD RETREAD TIRES
<< <i>I can't stop laughing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! >>
I hope it didn't sound like I was calling politicians a product or service. It has been
suggested that whatr they really need are decals like Nascars though.
<< <i>
<< <i>I can't stop laughing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! >>
Why ?
This is change you can believe in. >>
ROFL.