What you can do is deposit worn and damaged coins with your bank for full face value. But if you have mutilated coins, your bank will require you to complete a Mutilated Coin Claim Form and your deposit will be forwarded to the Mint for processing.
The U.S. Mint accepts for redemption: Bent or partial coins. Weighing no less than 1 pound (0.4536 kilograms)
Any fused, melted, or otherwise mutilated coin should be sent to the United States Mint for evaluation.
Bent or Mutilated Coins
Some stores and banks will take coins at face value if they're not too badly damaged, but it's totally at their discretion. Banks will then forward them to the Federal Reserve for deposit and replacement. If they're in really bad shape, you can send them to the U.S. Mint.
The general rule on coin values is that coins are ultimately worth what someone will pay for them. Damaged 20th-century silver and gold coins are often only worth the value of the metal in the coin (or their spot value). However, damaged rare coins are usually worth much more than their metal value.
Let's settle this. Is it illegal to melt or destroy US pennies or other coins? It is not illegal to melt, form, destroy, or otherwise modify US coins, including pennies, unless the objective is fraudulent or with the intent of selling the raw materials of the coins for profit.
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Take your coins to a community bank or credit union
Many big banks have phased out their coin-counting services in recent years, but the regional banks or credit unions that do offer coin exchange likely do so at no cost to customers. There may be a small fee for noncustomers to use the bank's coin-counting services.
For extreme cases of damage, you can send bills to the Department of the Treasury's Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP) to be examined. They have a Mutilated Currency Division full of U.S. currency experts that examine mutilated bills and bent coins for free and will return an equivalent amount.
Legally no banks, or shopkeeper, traders can refuse to accept the RBI authorized coins or bank notes. The only condition of the refusal of the bank currency is some kind of mutilation to the currency which may be due to the over usage of the currency or it's a fake currency but, for many people, that's not the case.
18 U.S. Code section 331: This statute addresses the mutilation, diminution, or falsification of U.S. coins. You can be charged with on offense for fraudulently defacing coins, mutilating coins, altering coins, diminishing them, impairing them, scaling them, or lightening them.
Most banks or credit unions will accept rolled coins from customers, but some may charge a fee for the service. Some banks, such as Wells Fargo, will exchange rolled coins for customers without a fee. Wells Fargo says it also offers free coin wrappers. Check your bank's policy.
You can use your cash as is if a corner is missing. If it's ripped into two pieces, tape them back together and take the bill to a bank, where they will make sure the serial numbers on both sides of the note match and give you a new one.
The Mint will accept mutilated coins from individuals, businesses, and other organisations only after they have been deposited with an ADI. Depositors must have an account with the ADI where they deposit mutilated coins. Depositors will be required to complete a Royal Australian Mint Mutilated Coin Claim Form.
Mutilated coins means any coins that have been bent or twisted out of shape, punched, clipped, plugged, fused or defaced but that can be identified as to genuineness and denomination.
RBI has found a solution to the problem of torn and mutilated currency notes. If you have a mutilated currency and are afraid about its usability, then there is a good news for you. As per the latest RBI guidelines, anybody who has mutilated notes can exchange them from the nearest central bank regional office.
To lodge a claim for damaged money, all you need to do is return the cash to an authorised deposit taking institution (ADI) – a bank branch, credit union, or building society – where it will be assessed on a “grid” to determine how much it is worth.
Mutilated currency is currency which has been damaged – to the extent that: (1) one-half or less of the original note remains; or (2) its condition is such that its value is questionable.
If you're depositing a small amount of loose coins, you can pay these in at a Nationwide branch. If you have a large number of loose coins, we can give you bags to separate these into. You'll then have the same limit of 5 full bags per day.
Banks can return excess coins to Reserve Banks, which re-distribute the coins to other banks and take worn coins out of circulation. Businesses deposit coins in banks and also receive coins. Coins are also exchanged between businesses and people.
If so, you probably remember a time when saving pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters meant a lot to you! Once we reach adulthood, it's sometimes easy to forget the value of collecting change. The truth is, it's still a great way to save extra money — and it may surprise you how quickly small amounts can add up!
Coinoscope makes coin identification and valuation easy - just snap a picture of a coin with your phone camera and the app will show you a list of similar coins. Click on the coin to see additional information in the web browser of your phone. Save search results and build your photo collection of coins.
CoinFacts (PCGS mobile app)
Many coin collectors say the first place to start for any coin collector or enthusiast is with PCGS — offering a variety of different coin-collecting apps for both iOS and Android. PCGS claims they're the industry standard for grading and valuing coins.