"Defacing" money by drawing a bubble on it

[bandit957]

Here in the United States, paper money always features a portrait of a historic figure, usually a President.

Some years back, I thought it would be really funny if I took all the dollar bills in my wallet and drew a bubble on George Washington, to make it appear as if ol' George was blowing a bubble with bubble gum. I wonder if bubble gum would have gunked up his wooden dentures.

I also wonder if "defacing" money like this would be considered a federal crime. I thought it was just innocent humor, but federal prosecutors might have seen it differently.

[Alps]

You're going to pound-me-in-the-ass prison now.

[Big John]

What I see is that defacing paper currency to change its value is a federal crime.  I don't see what you describe as a crime.

[Scott5114]

Where's George? is a website where people track the movement of currency by serial number. As a result of that, they often mark the URL of the website on bills they are tracking to get people to update the location. There have been some folks over there that have looked into the legality of marking on paper money. Turns out the way the law is worded, for it to be a crime, defacement has to be done with intent to render the bill unissuable. So running a bill through a paper shredder would be illegal. Making George blow a bubble is just fine if you intend for the bill to continue circulating like that.

It'd be pretty hard to prove who originally marked a bill unless there was a credible witness anyway or you confessed to it. Even the Where's George people have never been bothered by the government, and the site has a database that contains who originally entered the bill (and thus probably wrote on it).

I will occasionally mark out the signature of a particular Treasury official that I don't care for, as a political statement. I try to limit this only to bills that are worn enough they likely wouldn't work in a bill acceptor anyway, so as to avoid reducing the utility of the bill for people that have it after me.

[Alps]

Where's George? is a website where people track the movement of currency by serial number. As a result of that, they often mark the URL of the website on bills they are tracking to get people to update the location. There have been some folks over there that have looked into the legality of marking on paper money. Turns out the way the law is worded, for it to be a crime, defacement has to be done with intent to render the bill unissuable. So running a bill through a paper shredder would be illegal. Making George blow a bubble is just fine if you intend for the bill to continue circulating like that.

It'd be pretty hard to prove who originally marked a bill unless there was a credible witness anyway or you confessed to it. Even the Where's George people have never been bothered by the government, and the site has a database that contains who originally entered the bill (and thus probably wrote on it).

I will occasionally mark out the signature of a particular Treasury official that I don't care for, as a political statement. I try to limit this only to bills that are worn enough they likely wouldn't work in a bill acceptor anyway, so as to avoid reducing the utility of the bill for people that have it after me.

The Where's Georgians should all be rounded up and executed.

[GenExpwy]

his wooden dentures.

Ivory, actually. He was one of the wealthiest people in America, so he could afford the best dentures.

(Minor thing that bothers me.)

[kevinb1994]

his wooden dentures.

Ivory, actually. He was one of the wealthiest people in America, so he could afford the best dentures.

(Minor thing that bothers me.)

Now that sounds like quite the soap opera! Lol

[Rothman]

At one point, Where's George was discouraging stamps.  Participation died out years ago from what it once was.

[jeffandnicole]

You never see people drawing bubbles on dollar coins.

[Brandon]

You never see people drawing bubbles on dollar coins.

That would just be Loony.

[kphoger]

You never see people drawing bubbles on dollar coins.

I draw bubbles around dollar coins.

[roadman]

This issue came up recently in Boston, where a local church in the Roxbury section of the city has been stamping the face of Harriet Tubman over Andrew Jackson's image on $20 bills.  Because the ink is water soluble, the stamp does not render the bills unfit for use.  So it's OK per Treasury Department rules regarding defacement of currency.

[1995hoo]

You never see dollar coins.

Perhaps not literally true (I have some sitting around), but probably true as a practical matter for most people.

[kphoger]

Perhaps I have sitting around people.

what

[jeffandnicole]

You never see dollar coins.

Perhaps not literally true (I have some sitting around), but probably true as a practical matter for most people.

That was a bad selective creation of my comment.

[PHLBOS]

The only defacing of a currency portrait I saw was way back in the 70s or 80s on a $1 bill.  Somebody drew a pair of sunglasses on George Washington's face.

[bandit957]

I remember people drawing a speech balloon coming out of George Washington's mouth saying, "I GREW HEMP."

[oscar]

This issue came up in Canada, when some Star Trek fans took to "Spocking" $5 bills in honor of the late Leonard Nimoy. altering the face of a former prime minister to look like Mr. Spock:

https://abcnews.go.com/International/spocking-money-legal-inappropriate-bank-canada/story?id=29381790

The Bank of Canada said the alterations were not illegal, but also not a good idea.

BTW, I looked for Spocked bills on several visits to Canada, but found none in circulation. My guess is that any such bills reaching a bank were removed from circulation and sent in for destruction. This all happened after my visit to Vulcan, Alberta ("Star Trek Capital of Canada"), which would've been a logical place to look if I'd had time for a re-visit when I was in the area in summer 2016.

[webny99]

"Defacing"?

I see money with some sort of writing on it semi-regularly, and think nothing of it. It doesn't usually make it unusable.

[hotdogPi]

"Defacing"?

I see money with some sort of writing on it semi-regularly, and think nothing of it. It doesn't usually make it unusable.

Vending machines might not accept it.

[US71]

In Canada, people are defacing C $5 bills to look like Mr Spock from Star Trek.

[oscar]

In Canada, people are defacing C $5 bills to look like Mr Spock from Star Trek.

See my post three up from yours for link and details.