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Message: <blockquote data-quote="sonnetpete" data-source="post: 892297" data-attributes="member: 310216">VS, you may want to read this....<img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite13" alt=":-rofl2" title="roll on floor    :-rofl2" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":-rofl2" /> (which I found on a legal forum)Section 10 of the Coinage Act 1971 says quite categorically (if at some length)..."Restrictions on melting or breaking of metal coins..(1)No person shall, except under the authority of a licence granted by the Treasury, melt down or break up any metal coin which is for the time being current in the United Kingdom or which, having been current there, has at any time after 16th May 1969 ceased to be so. (2)Any person who contravenes subsection (1) of this section shall be liable— (a)on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding £400; (b)on conviction on indictment, to a fine or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years, or both. Defacing by drilling a hole through the coin (and through the Queen's head) would count as destruction.Counterfeiting currency was called "coining", and for a long time, it was a species of treason, and the penalties were indeed severe. Upto 1798, the penalty for women was to be burned at the stake: the last such case occurring as late as 18th March 1789.A little research has revealed that Susan Grant (1809), and Mary Bissaker (1819) were hanged for coining.Upto 1814, the correct sequence was: drawn, hanged (but not until dead), disembowelled, beheaded, & quartered.In 1814, the Statute was amended. Thereafter, the hanging was until death; disembowelling was abolished; and the beheading was only carried out upon an already-deceased prisoner.The last beheadings were in 1820: and they were spared the quartering.</blockquote>

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