Is it legal to superimpose a picture over the presidents pictue on a u.s. dollar?

Question

I ask because on ebay i found a u.s. 2 dollar bill, they took it and superimposed a star trek picture, ( lol ) over jefferson. they said it is legal and can actually be used. I wasnt convinced, and ive searched all over and got zilch!

Answer 1

The prior answer is good and begins to get to the heart of the matter, but the clear and simple reading of the law is that the party executing the defacment is culpable, and only so if the INTENT is to render such notes as uncirculatable. Secondly, these are notes issued by the private Federal Reserve Bank and NOT by the US Treasury, calling into question the validity of the jurisidiction of the Feds in this matter. Thirdly, it is not illegal for any business or merchant to accept it for payment, or to pass it forward as tender in their own debts.
There are plenty of legal examples of US Silver Dollars being modified using 3-D laser etching to print a patriotic image on the coins in memorialization of 9-11 and such. Check on EBay for examples of this common practice.
Remember, the only legal money that can be called that is gold and silver coin issued by the US Treasury Department (see the Constitution on this). Federal Reserve Notes are a medium of exchange used as money but backed by nothing (unlike older silver and gold certificates which could be redeemed at the treasury for real money).
Also watch for the smashed penny machines at highway rest stops and amusement parks that stamp a mark onto a penny. These often cite the exact same law as evidence that they ARE incompliance with lawful practices, so the noted citation of law does NOT necessarily preclude any such practices.

Answer 2

If you mean digitally, that's technically okay, as long as you're changing the look of the bill and aren't trying to pass it off as legal tender -- altered images of currency fall under the realm of art. If it was illegal, every President's Day when they run commercials where Washington's portrait on the dollar winks at you and says what a great deal your'e getting with whatever sale they're advertising would get a lot of companies in trouble. However, if you paint or draw over the portrait on legal tender, that IS illegal, because you're defacing official US currency (heck, putting a penny on the railroad track so the next train will squish it into a little pancake is technically illegal, but way too much trouble to actually prosecute)

Answer 3

Defacing US currency is indeed illegal. Defacement of currency in such
a way that it is made unfit for circulation comes under the
jurisdiction of the United States Secret Service:

United States Code
TITLE 18 - CRIMES AND CRIMINAL PROCEDURE
PART I - CRIMES
CHAPTER 17 - COINS AND CURRENCY
§ 333. Mutilation of national bank obligations

“Whoever mutilates, cuts, defaces, disfigures, or perforates, or
unites or cements together, or does any other thing to any bank bill,
draft, note, or other evidence of debt issued by any national banking
association, or Federal Reserve bank, or the Federal Reserve System,
with intent to render such bank bill, draft, note, or other evidence
of debt unfit to be reissued, shall be fined under this title or
imprisoned not more than six months, or both.”
FINDLAW
http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/casecode/uscodes/18/parts/i/chapters/17/sections/section_333.html
or
http://assembler.law.cornell.edu/uscode/search/display.html?terms=defaces&url=/uscode/html/uscode18/usc_sec_18_00000333----000-.html

Prior to 1994 when this law was amended, the statute read “fined not
more than $100”. This was changed in 1994 to read “shall be fined
under this title” which effectively gives the court the authority to
impose a fine at its discretion. Of course the imprisonment terms
mentioned in the statute speaks for itself.

NOTES TITLE 18 SECTION 333
http://assembler.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode18/usc_sec_18_00000333----000-notes.html

This next statute concerns the defacing of currently circulated coins,
either foreign or domestic:

United States Code
TITLE 18
PART I
CHAPTER 17
§ 331. Mutilation, diminution, and falsification of coins

http://assembler.law.cornell.edu/uscode/search/display.html?terms=defaces&url=/uscode/html/uscode18/usc_sec_18_00000331----000-.html

“Whoever fraudulently alters, defaces, mutilates, impairs, diminishes,
falsifies, scales, or lightens any of the coins coined at the mints of
the United States, or any foreign coins which are by law made current
or are in actual use or circulation as money within the United States;
or whoever fraudulently possesses, passes, utters, publishes, or
sells, or attempts to pass, utter, publish, or sell, or brings into
the United States, any such coin, knowing the same to be altered,
defaced, mutilated, impaired, diminished, falsified, scaled, or
lightened— Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than
five years, or both.”

Like the statute I previously discussed, prior to 1994 when this law
was amended, the statute read “fined not more than $2,000”. This was
changed in 1994 to read “shall be fined under this title” which
effectively gives the court the authority to impose a fine at its
discretion. Of course the imprisonment terms mentioned in the statute
speaks for itself.

NOTES TITLE 18 SECTION 331
http://assembler.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode18/usc_sec_18_00000331----000-notes.html

They will typically only prosecute you if you try and pass a modified bill or do something in a very public way.

Answer 4

nnnnnnnnnnnnnnoooooooooooooo, Although it does look funny especially if its like stewie from family guy!

Answer 5

no...i took a dollar, cut out my picture, and put it there....it was cool

Answer 6

Not if your trying to use that dollar to pay for something.


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