Is It Legal to Melt Coins? Pennies, Nickels and Silver Coins

Picture the coin jar on your dresser. The law lets you spend it, roll it, sort it, stare at it and leave it to your nephew. In the United States there is one thing you can’t do with the pennies and nickels in it: put them in the oven.

So, is it legal to melt coins? In the United States it is legal to melt silver coins, including pre-1965 dimes, quarters, half dollars and silver dollars. It is illegal to melt or export pennies and nickels in bulk: a Treasury rule in force since December 2006 bans it, with fines of up to $10,000 and up to five years in prison. The 1942–1945 silver “war nickels” are exempt. Other countries are stricter: in the UK, Canada and Australia, melting coins that are still legal tender needs government permission.

Is it illegal to melt pennies and nickels?

Yes, in bulk. The rule is 31 CFR 82.1: no person shall “export, melt, or treat” any US 5-cent or one-cent coin without the Treasury’s permission. The US Mint brought it in on December 14, 2006, when the prices of copper, nickel and zinc had pushed the cost of making both coins above their face value, and made it permanent in 2007. The penalty, under 82.4, is a fine of up to $10,000, up to five years in prison, or both.

The worry was simple: if the metal in a nickel is worth more than five cents, someone with a truck and a furnace can turn the country’s small change into scrap at a profit, and the Mint has to make new coins at a loss to replace them. By fiscal 2024 a penny cost 3.69 cents to make and a nickel 13.78 cents. The Mint struck its last penny for circulation on November 12, 2025. Pennies are still legal tender, and still illegal to melt.

What are the exceptions?

The rule’s exceptions are more generous than people expect. In plain terms:

• Souvenirs, jewelry and science projects. Treating coins for “educational, amusement, novelty, jewelry, and similar purposes” is allowed, as long as the amounts and the method make it clear you’re not trying to profit from the metal. The pressed-penny machine at the zoo is safe.
• War nickels. Nickels dated 1942 to 1945 made of copper, silver and manganese are exempt. They are 35% silver, so they are the one nickel worth melting.
• Accidental recycling. Coins mixed into scrap metal in small amounts, where sorting them out would be impractical, are not a crime.
• Travel. You can take up to $5 in pennies and nickels out of the country, or $25 when it is clearly for collecting, amusement or recreation, and mail up to $100 in face value in one shipment for use as money or for collecting.
• A license. The Mint can grant written permission. It is not a form most people will ever need.

So flattening a penny on a railroad track is fine (railroad tracks are another matter; stay off them). Filling a bathtub with nickels and calling a scrap dealer is not.

Is it legal to melt silver coins?

Yes. No federal rule stops you melting pre-1965 dimes, quarters and half dollars, 40% Kennedy halves, or Morgan and Peace dollars. There was one, briefly: the Treasury banned melting and exporting silver coins on May 18, 1967, during a coin shortage, and lifted the ban on May 12, 1969. Since then silver coins have been yours to do with as you like.

Defacing coins isn’t a crime in itself either. The federal law, 18 U.S.C. 331, punishes people who fraudulently alter or lighten coins: shaving silver off and spending the coin at full value, for example. Cutting, bending, drilling or melting your own coins without trying to fool anyone is not covered.

Should you melt silver coins?

Usually not, and the reason is money rather than law. Junk silver already trades close to melt value; the junk silver guide shows dealers’ lowest prices sitting within a few percent of the metal. Melting adds costs and takes away three things:

• Recognition. Any dealer can identify a 1964 quarter at a glance, and its silver content is public. A lumpy homemade bar is an unknown, and a buyer will want it tested, often by a refiner who charges a fee.
• Purity. 90% coin silver melts into a bar that is still 90% silver, with copper in it. Refining it to fine silver is an industrial process, not a kitchen one.
• Collector value. Somewhere in most bags of old coins is a date worth more than its silver. Melted, it is worth the silver and nothing more. The Morgan dollar guide has the extreme example.

Melting a jar of silver dimes into a bar is like baking a box of name-brand cookies into one big homemade cookie. You still have all the cookie, but nobody at the bake sale will pay the name-brand price.

Is it legal to melt coins in other countries?

The British rule reaches further back than it looks. The Coinage Act 1971 covers any coin that stopped being legal tender after May 16, 1969, and the old silver shillings, florins and half crowns all lost that status after that date, so melting even a pre-1947 silver florin needs a Treasury license. In Canada, the Currency Act bans melting, breaking up or using as anything but money any coin that is current and legal tender, with a fine of up to $250 or up to a year in jail. In Australia, section 16 of the Crimes (Currency) Act covers coins that are lawfully current, which includes the 80% silver round 50-cent piece of 1966.

The guide to when coins stopped being silver lists which old coins in each country contain silver, and the Is my coin silver? checker sorts out the ones in your hand.

The fair objection

It is odd to own something and be told you can’t melt it, and some people argue the penny and nickel rule protects the Mint from its own pricing rather than protecting anyone else. That’s a fair point about the rule. But it is the rule, the penalty is real, and the profit on melting small change has never been worth a criminal record. For silver coins the question is settled the other way: legal, and usually not worth it.

Back to the coin jar

Spend it, roll it, sort out the silver and the war nickels, and keep the pennies and nickels out of the oven. Everything else in the jar is yours to melt, and usually worth more left as it is.

Sources

• The US ban on melting, treating and exporting pennies and nickels, its exceptions and penalties: 31 CFR 82.1, 82.2 and 82.4 (Legal Information Institute; source 72 FR 61055, October 29, 2007). The interim rule of December 14, 2006 and the reasons for it: US Mint press release.
• The 1967 silver coin melting ban: US Mint historical documents. Its lifting on May 12, 1969: the Treasury release listed in the Mint’s 1969 annual report.
• Fraudulently altering coins: 18 U.S.C. 331.
• Cost of a penny (3.69 cents) and a nickel (13.78 cents), fiscal 2024: CoinNews. The last circulating penny, November 12, 2025: Coin World.
• United Kingdom: Coinage Act 1971, section 10. Canada: Currency Act, section 11. Australia: Crimes (Currency) Act 1981, section 16.

This page describes the law; it is not legal advice. Sources read October 17, 2026.

Questions people actually ask

Is it legal to melt coins in the US?

It is legal to melt silver coins, such as pre-1965 dimes, quarters and half dollars. It is illegal to melt or export pennies and nickels in bulk under a Treasury rule in force since December 2006, with exceptions for jewelry, souvenirs, accidental recycling and the 1942 to 1945 silver war nickels.

Is it illegal to melt pennies?

Yes, except for small-scale novelty, jewelry or educational uses. The rule, 31 CFR Part 82, bans melting, treating or exporting one-cent and five-cent coins without the Treasury's permission. Pennies remain illegal to melt even though the Mint stopped making them for circulation in November 2025.

What is the penalty for melting pennies or nickels?

Up to $10,000 in fines, up to five years in prison, or both, under 31 CFR 82.4 and 31 U.S.C. 5111(d).

Is it legal to melt silver coins?

Yes. No federal rule bans melting US silver coins. The Treasury banned it from May 18, 1967 to May 12, 1969, during a coin shortage, and has not banned it since.

Can I melt war nickels?

Yes. Nickels dated 1942 to 1945 made of copper, silver and manganese are specifically exempt from the ban. They are 35% silver.

Is a pressed penny illegal?

No. Treating pennies for novelty, amusement, jewelry or educational purposes is allowed as long as it is clearly not done to profit from the metal, so pressed-penny souvenir machines are legal.

Is it illegal to deface US coins?

Not in itself. The federal law, 18 U.S.C. 331, punishes fraudulently altering or lightening coins, such as shaving off metal and spending them at full value. Cutting, bending or drilling your own coins without intent to deceive is not covered.

Should I melt my junk silver?

Usually not. Junk silver already sells close to melt value, a homemade bar is harder to sell because buyers will want it tested, the bar is still 90% silver rather than fine silver, and melting destroys any collector value.

Is it legal to melt coins in the UK?

Only with a Treasury license. Section 10 of the Coinage Act 1971 covers current coins and coins that stopped being legal tender after May 16, 1969, which includes the old silver shillings, florins and half crowns.

Is it legal to melt coins in Canada or Australia?

Not without permission if the coin is still legal tender. Canada's Currency Act requires a license from the Minister, and Australia's Crimes (Currency) Act requires written consent to destroy coins that are lawfully current.