Thread: Tru-Dollar™ coin

love your work seamus good to see you on the aussie forum

What a nifty idea!

One question though: Are these real coins and/or usable legal tender?

Here in Oz it's a criminal act to deface our currency under the Crimes (Currency) Act of 1981. One politician (Paul Keating) got in a little trouble when he was filmed autographing a five dollar bill in 1993, which was a bit of a laugh.

Looks great.
Just a question though, how do you turn a coin into a pen? do you have an example of a finished coin pen?

Originally Posted by RedShirtGuy

Here in Oz it's a criminal act to deface our currency under the Crimes (Currency) Act of 1981. One politician (Paul Keating) got in a little trouble when he was filmed autographing a five dollar bill in 1993, which was a bit of a laugh.

Years ago I saw a guy out at Silverton which is near Broken Hill who 'carves' Australian coins, but he had to go through a lot of Government red tape to get permission to do it
The Coin Carvery

Originally Posted by bench1holio

love your work seamus good to see you on the aussie forum

thanks, I think i get caught up on IAP so much, that i forget about my pals on the other side of the pond!

Originally Posted by RedShirtGuy

What a nifty idea!

One question though: Are these real coins and/or usable legal tender[/COLOR]?
Here in Oz it's a criminal act to deface our currency under the Crimes (Currency) Act of 1981. One politician (Paul Keating) got in a little trouble when he was filmed autographing a five dollar bill in 1993, which was a bit of a laugh.

Yes! this particular coin is actually a U.S. One Dollar coin! What you are seeing is the reverse of the coin, on the obverse is Susan B. Anthony. Last year around spring I called the U.S. Mint with the question of whether or not it was illegal, mainly because I had so many people trying to say it was. Their answer was: because I am removing it from circulation and not trying to alter the value of the coin for personal gain(taking a $1 coin, removing the value of "one" and adding "five" and gold plating it and trying to pass it off as a $5 gold coin) then it was perfectly legal. I would be led to believe that Australia is the same in that if you are writing on a piece of currency, and putting back into circulation, then yes it would be an illegal act. But you own that bill and if you want to cut it up and cast it on a pen blank then it is no longer in circulation. Call the Australian Mint for clarification on it. I would be willing to bet they would agree. but you have to be specific on what you are doing so they understand what you are talking about.

Originally Posted by oges

Looks great.
Just a question though, how do you turn a coin into a pen? do you have an example of a finished coin pen?

You can go to my website below to see my finished pens, or go onto IAP Home (IAP)

The first pen on the top left was originally made in April of 2010(it took me awhile to take the pic). It was the original design idea behind the Tru-Quarter™ design. Then I realized how much better the coins look when they have been cut out! The Carbon Fiber fountain pen was/is a combination of my work(quarter and casting) and "CaptG" on IAP(Carbon fiber). I really thought the coin idea looked so much better on his Carbon Fiber. that particular coin is a Silver Proof(ms-63)Quarter. The rifle shell pen with the pink Texas flag was my "2011 Casing Contest" entry pen on IAP. I must say the very bottom pen was assembled by "Wizard" on IAP, but I made the blanks. The pen above it(Canadian Pen) was assembled by "gandsande" on IAP, but i made the blanks. All other pens were made by myself. I felt like i needed to clarify that.

The pens look great

I would not have the patience to cut out the coins, but those pens are fantastic. Well done.

Marg