An Uncommon Find

Rummaging through some stored boxes which came from the previous residence, I chanced upon this rather uncommon find, which at first glance looked nothing more than a pendant made of silver.

Upon closer scrutiny, we find that it is the remains of what used to be a Liberty Walking Half-Dollar (minted circa 1916-1947).

While the edges of the coin have not been touched, what remains on the obverse side are Lady Liberty’s image, the sun, plus the word, Liberty, and the word Love holed out at the bottom where the date would have been. The rest of the coin must have been chipped away, sacrificing what appeared on the reverse side.

When asked, the wife had no idea how it got there.

On defacing of coins, here is what the US Code has to say:

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

“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.”

Comment:
(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.)