Qualification

On the Legality of Morgan Coin Bangle/Rings

We get asked this question almost every day, and it’s a very legitimate concern.

And for what we do – making jewelry out of coins – the answer is simply, no, it’s not illegal.

Title 18, Section 331 of the United States Code provides for criminal penalties for any person who fraudulently alters, defaces, mutilates, weakens, counterfeits, scales, or lightens any coin struck by the United States Mint. This statute means that if you alter the appearance of a coin and fraudulently represent it as something other than the altered coin, you may be violating the law. As a matter of policy, the Mint discourages the coloring, plating, or altering of U.S. coins: however, there are no sanctions for such activities if there is no intent to defraud.

The key word is fraud.

When you take a quarter and try to pass it off as a Sacagawea dollar, that’s fraud. When you take a Buffalo nickel, shave off one of its legs, and try to sell it as a rare collector’s item, that’s also fraud.

But when you melt a silver coin and sell it for its silver value, or you use heat and pressure to turn a coin into a ring, that is real and legal.

We hope this solves your problem. But if not, please consider two more things.

First, you know those coin stretching machines found at tourist attractions? If altering coins was illegal, these machines wouldn't exist.

Second, the Smithsonian Institution has many famous, beautiful coin jewels.

We don't want to break the law and have checked with our lawyers, who assured us that we are not committing any crimes.