Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

Isn't smelting a coin for the metal a crime?


No, not in general anyways. There are specific regulations on smelting pennies and nickels (and it's specifically nickels, not half dimes).

So you can smelt any silver coins minted by the US except for the WW2 silver nickel.


So is speeding. There might be some crazy radiation related super science way to determine if a lump of silver came from a specific collection of coins, but once it's melted down, and the impurities driven out, silver is silver and you can't really tell that it came from coins.


HN sometimes is pretty much anal about obeying the government no matter what. Except of course when obeying the government goes against the wishes of our VC Gods.




Consider applying for YC's Summer 2026 batch! Applications are open till May 4

Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: