Lots of people believe this is illegal but it isn’t Longer answer: The relevant law (U.S.C. Title 18, Chapter 17, Section 331) begins “whoever fraudulently alters…”. And the second paragraph begins the same “whoever fraudulently possesses…” the word fraudulently is intentional and meaningful. Without that word the would mean any ‘alteration’ or ‘possession’ of altered coins would be criminal but the use of the word fraudulent here means ‘fraudulent intent’ must be attached to the act in order for it to be a crime. But you don’t have to take my word for it. In 1980 A Mr Vance Fowler wrote the treasure asking if compressed Penny souvenirs are illegal. He got a response from Kenneth B Gubin Council to the Mint, it read in part: “you refer to and question the legality of a souvenir machine which compresses coins and returns a souvenir. You refer to Title 18, U.S.C. Section 331 and 475 “As you are already aware, a federal statute in the criminal code of the United States (18 U.S.C. 331) indeed makes it illegal if one ‘fraudulently alters, defaces, mutilates, impairs, diminishes, falsifies, scales or lightens’ any US coin. However, being a criminal statute, a fraudulent intent is required for violation. Thus, the mere act of compressing coins into souvenirs is not illegal, without other factors being present’ The letter was written by the mints legal council on letter head from the Department of the Treasury, Office of the Director of the Mint. So as far as that authority is concerned this kind of work is not illegal
@@wechslerartmaybe for 3rd world countries like the US that’s wild Wild West this is the case but in the civilized world it’s illegal to damage any tender with intent.
@@pederb82 what could possibly make the presence or absence of such legislation on a country's books an indicator of whether they're a "civilized" nation?
If your penny was made before 1983, then it is worth two cents. Because that is the value of the copper in it. In 1983 they started making pennies from "copper plated zinc" rather than solid copper.
For those wondering, it’s only illegal to melt coins down or destroy them with the intention of selling the metal they are made of. You can melt coins as much as you want, destroy them. It doesn’t matter, as long as you don’t sell the metal it’s alright. The reason it’s illegal is because zinc Pennie’s are made of roughly 1 to 2 cents in raw materials. Meaning you could make a profit from melting the coins down and selling them, but that is illegal. But only this specific action, as long as you don’t intend to sell the metal then it’s perfectly acceptable. Such as for science demonstrations or art.
@@heemlo649 You know 3 minutes of research would tell you the same. Or if you have a few hours to kill contacting the mint would tell you the same. Trust me they will annoyed you called them for something three minutes on Google could have told you . I know that from personal experience.
In chainmail there is a concept that looks exactly like this but using rings instead of disks like coins. This pattern would accurately be represented as Japanese 4-in-1 and it can also make a cube just like you show here.
I would not be able to do this for more than an hour or two. For some weird reason I prefer to justify taking up space on earth by contributing to others by working. Performing a service that makes life a little better for others. Some will call me a "Hater" but not those who benefit, even briefly from my efforts.
Back in art school I did something similar to this, but with vinyl records stitched together in a pyramid. In grade school, they wanted us to build a model castle, and my lazy ass taped together a bunch of 5 1/4 floppy discs and named it Castle Firewall. My teacher seemed so resentful about giving me a passing grade, but when it made its rotation through the schools main display case, it was the only one anyone found remotely remarkable or memorable. At the end of the year, my teacher for whatever reason picked me up, and drove me to the school gymnasium, for whatever reason, but little did I know, a whole bunch of stuff I made had been submitted by my art teacher to compete against a bunch of other schools, and apparently won many of them. I was left completely in the dark about it, all year. 😂
"As a matter of policy, the U.S. Mint does not promote coloring, plating or altering U.S. coinage: however, there are no sanctions against such activity absent fraudulent intent.”
It’s not a problem with coins, however defacing a significant amount of paper money, even if it’s not fraudulent, can cause a problem with circulation so that does come with restrictions
At first I was gonna say “but that’s a lot of money” but then I realized I’d just go out and spend money on art supplies anyways, you just cut out the middleman
And imagine if you were almost done building this, and your tired shaking hands accidentally started an uncontrollable chain reaction causing a total loss to the structure? I would go ballistic lol 😂
Putting them together, not so bad, but having to cut those little slots on each and every single penny, _that's_ what would make me lose my shit, so tedious 😅
@@Ari_C theres pennies out there worth 50k due to rarity,..+ the pennies made before 1982 were 95%copper.. aft that they were mostly zinc with a thin copper coating.. thus making the post 1982 penny almost worthless by modern day standards
I had no idea that this was a.... I want to say "Hobby". I didn't even know this type of thing even existed but it is completely remarkable what you have done with pennies. I tip my hat to you and your creativity and your ingenuity. Thank you for sharing this this is actually really cool
@cliffordmanning1306 a hobby, or art does not need a use. It brings enjoyment, it brings pleasure and in some cases potentially relaxation. And if you're crafty, profit
Man this guy is hella talented! The amount of patience needed for this has to be up there with the greats. Well done man can’t wait to see what else you do.❤
Wow, thanks for the enthusiasm! Hope you check out the other vids and stick around for more. If you haven’t yet you can find the finished cube in my feed
This is where our coin shortage comes from. Also, why not acid wash them shiny again? Also, are they loose or do you douse them with flux and solder them all at once in an oven?
1) I dont think I can be compeltely to blame for the coin shortage. 2) If I wanted shiny pennies, I would have used new ones. I’ve done that in the past for other projects. This cube is partly about the beautiful individuality each penny earns over time. pennies begin life identical time and experience makes them unique. Its something I love most about pennies. 3) they are not soldered or glued. Much better than that. They are precision cut and press-fit together. Very sturdy joints but no glue, no welds, only pennies
Are coins shortage comes from making coins out of real material like copper and silver people would take a little bit here and there from the coin devaluing it till it's less than weight volue copper by weight was actually more than silver even more than the quarter and silver dollar for example a penny could evaluate an entire bag of candy did you try going to the store with a penny today and see what you get you may end up owing them😅
That is awesome! I had this dream... I was part of an away team in Star Trek and we boarded a Borg cube. But, all the Borg looked like Abraham Lincoln for some reason.
thanks. How is hard to explain but you can see some other videos in my feed that show some of the how. as for why here is a little of that too: I find endless inspiration in the common American penny. When I began this project I was most interested in the penny as a cultural object. It’s a beautifully designed coin, as much ornament as legal tender. It’s a memorial to a beloved resident that we carry in our pockets. It's a childhood token and good-luck charm. The penny has been rendered practically worthless by more than a century of inflation. Produced without purpose, exceptionally common but rarely used, ubiquitous to the point of invisibility the penny remains the most humble monetary piece of the most powerful economy in world history and one of humanity's most numerous artifacts. I’ve been working on this project for seven years now and during that time this piece has grown to be less about the penny itself and more about currency in general. The penny is a familiar handhold for me to try and grapple with the less tangible, more intractable concepts of money as a force in our world. For me the piece is about the two-faced strangeness of money. It’s both concrete and unfathomable, servant and god, petty and powerful. Something that binds and divides, a thing of darkness and light.
@@wechslerart Dang. I was gonna keep scrolling at first cause the coin thing is nifty, but didn't strike me as anything but a neat craft. Your comment actually left me inspired. Keep on being awesome!
@wechslerart A penny is not worthless. It has the power of 1. You, by yourself, are only 1, with only the power of one. You are not worthless. 1 maybe small, but without 1 we have nothing to build with.
you can see the finshed project in my feed already. but here is a little about the work: Thanks for being curious I wanted to make something beautiful and peculiar to provoke thought and conversation. When we see an artwork it’s through the lens of our own experiences, beliefs, and feelings. When people look at this Hundred Thousand Penny Cube I want them to see Money. I want them to think about its role in their lives and in our society. I want them to think about student loans and CEOs, grocery bills and national debts, wealth and wages, power and poverty, service and slavery, I want people to think about War, the March of Dimes, the Gilded Age, booms, busts, and bailouts, greed and charity. I want people to think of all the ways money wounds us and binds us together. I find endless inspiration in the common American penny. When I began this project I was most interested in the penny as a cultural object. It’s a beautifully designed coin, as much ornament as legal tender. It’s a memorial to a beloved president that we carry in our pockets. It's a childhood token and good-luck charm. The penny has been rendered practically worthless by more than a century of inflation. Produced without purpose, exceptionally common but rarely used, ubiquitous to the point of invisibility the penny remains the most humble money piece of the most powerful economy in world history and one of humanity's most numerous artifacts. I’ve been working on this project for seven years now and during that time this piece has grown to be less about the penny itself and more about money in general. The penny is a familiar handhold for me to try and grapple with the less tangible, more intractable concepts of money as a force in our world. For me the piece is about the two-faced strangeness of money. It’s both concrete and unfathomable, servant and god, petty and powerful. Something that binds and divides, a thing of darkness and light.
Dude wtf that is awesome. Your whole jig is professional and the perfect simitry this creates is super pleasing. Love the art piece and your work. Keep it up. Greeting from Berlin, GER.
Inspired by the beauty of Platonic solids!? What a wonderful project… I love your method, would love a short vid explaining the joins and the height ratio, eg: one of of height 13, one of height 24… Would love to know more! Great work, I am certain it will bring you along the most amazing journey ⚒️
For anyone wondering btw it isn’t illegal to destroy or damage currency it’s only illegal to change it so like filing a coin down so it would be picked up as a different coin for machines etc
