Defaced presidents on Flickr

The Defaced President pool on Flickr is a hoot. From left, tonx's "A Lincoln Sane" and marabou2005's "Lincoln Mirror Mirror Spock."
Link (Thanks, Mike Love!)

[#1 posted by Jake0748 , March 31, 2008 10:08 AM]

Ohhh Noooo!! Gosh, it's illegal to deface US currency!

Well, someone had to break the ice.

[#2 posted by ElBiggus , March 31, 2008 10:16 AM]

I'd just like to add the time honoured phrase, "no, your *other* left"...

[#3 posted by Takuan , March 31, 2008 10:16 AM]

not at all dear sir, "currency" requires that the script have some value. If you dropped one, they could nail you for littering.

[#4 posted by texwiller , March 31, 2008 10:33 AM]

i just thought I'd point out that Laurier (on the canadian 5) makes a way better spock

http://www.flickr.com/photos/splurge/9118630/

[#5 posted by mellowknees , March 31, 2008 10:53 AM]

I dunno...Laurier looks much more Romulan than Vulcan to me.

[#6 posted by Trent Hawkins , March 31, 2008 11:17 AM]

who's got enough cash to deface a 100 dollar bill?

[#7 posted by Takuan , March 31, 2008 12:01 PM]

when you print as many as I do, it's no biggie

[#8 posted by mellowknees , March 31, 2008 12:03 PM]

this pool is seriously not big enough - everyone start defacing money and uploading your scans to Flickr!

[#9 posted by Takuan , March 31, 2008 12:13 PM]

I wonder if this is a good way to pass counterfeits.
If the recipient is fixed on the drawn-on mustache, will he miss the other tell tales of bad paper? Can this be of assistance to me in laundering drug money?

[#10 posted by Strange Quark Star , March 31, 2008 2:45 PM]

How about giving them the KISS look?
Easy to do, great effect (I think).

A shame that our bills (€uro) don't have pretty faces to deface... :(

[#11 posted by Strange Quark Star , March 31, 2008 2:47 PM]

Ah well, they already did. Never mind...

[#12 posted by kip w , March 31, 2008 6:50 PM]

When I worked at the comic shop, I used to use my fine-point Rapidograph to improve the $20 bills. I believed in minimal changes -- just enough to make Jackson smile. I did a Groucho moustache and glasses once, but that was too obvious. I always buried the bills under others in a pile, and hoped nobody'd notice until they were a couple of steps away from me.

[#13 posted by Jawshwar , April 1, 2008 7:37 PM]

Did anyone notice this one?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/samleh/2378061473/in/pool-612007@N21/

[#14 posted by Jawshwar , April 1, 2008 7:37 PM]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/samleh/2378061473/in/pool-612007@N21/

[#15 posted by corpse 1 , May 2, 2008 4:23 PM]

@Kip W: I've done some pretty outlandish drawings on bills and not once have I had a cashier refuse, comment, or even give the bill a second look. Mind you I'm in Canada where defacing currency isn't actually illegal (since the 1970s I believe), as long as it doesn't affect the ability to tell that it is valid currency.

[#16 posted by Takuan , May 2, 2008 4:27 PM]

drawing knockers on the Queen were we?

[#17 posted by Anonymous , November 19, 2008 11:49 AM]

It is NOT illegal to deface US currency... unless there is "intent to defraud." If you draw two zeroes after the ONE on a $1 bill with the intent of passing it as a $100 bill, you are intending to defraud (and if someone is idiotic enough to accept it as a $100 bill, you successfully defrauded that idiot). If you make President Washington's eyes look crossed for the sake of comic art, there is no intent to defraud, thus no crime. If it were illegal to simply mark on a US bill, then every time a merchant checks the authenticity of a $20 bill with a security pen, the merchant would be guilty of defacing US currency, right?