The following is a stolen article guest post from J Money at Budgets Are Sexy. This was reproduced with his written consent. Honestly!
I am wondering because I may or may not like to draw on ‘em, A LOT. And I’ve never heard of anyone getting arrested or even receiving a firm talking to for drawing on money. My sister once got a nice little visit from the FBI because her friend was passing around *fake* dollars she had made on her dad’s scanner, but I think counterfeiting money is way different than prettying them up. Or making art projects out of them.
When I google it, I get this:
Yes, it is called Mutilation of national bank obligations
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.”
OMG. I’m going to jail. But what if I never put it back into circulation? What if I have a wall, let’s say, full of dollars I drew all over to show my fellow Americans how proud I am of our George Washingtons and Benji Franklins? If they never see another cash register again, do I get leniency? Could it then be considered “art?” I hope so. Not that I already have this wall or anything…
And what of my J. Money icon? Or my image from yesterday’s post? If it’s digital, it’s not really REAL, right? Could one of these doodled dollars be the same as the other digital dollars when I log onto online banking? I’m kinda perplexed, but I also kinda don’t wanna know the answers either.
I like the idea of expressing myself on federal reserve paper. I don’t know many other places I could get a 2.61″ by 6.14″ canvas for so cheap! I worked hard for those dollars, and I feel like if I don’t want to trade it for something of equal or less value, I shouldn’t have to. But don’t go telling the police. If they were to show up I can’t promise I’d be so brave.
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