Hey. I was thinking about going to Kinkos and copying my dollar bill for a mismade bill trick. I want to copy the bill on both sides of the same piece of paper so that one corner is folded down almost covering one entire serial number. Would this be illegal to do?

Mark, why not just use your own printer/copier? I'd imagine people at Kinkos seeing you do what you described above can cause a problem no?

I would be careful about this, some copy machines shut down if you try to copy money on them & a service person has to come & unlock the machine.



Mike

We have one of the old 1990 copy machines with the waxy paper. The kind that parts are no longer sold for lol. It broke haha. So yea, I can't do it on my own. plus it was only black and white.

Mike, that could have been entertaining in itself to see Mark trying to explain why the machine he was using to copy currency locked up!

Mark.

Kinko's is pretty fussy. I'd look for dome small outfit that has a machine.

Here are the facts as I remember them when I spoke with the treasury dept years ago.

Yes, it's illegal, sort of!

If you do photocopy it, you can, as long as you enlarge it by double its size, or copy it in Black & White, or print the front on one page and then the back on another page. I would strongly caution you about printing it in full color and at the same size. The reason they recently changed the look of the 5, 10 and 20 is to stay ahead of counterfeiters. The new bills are much harder to counterfeit.

If you need any other info, just ask.
Good luck,

Sam

Even if I am making a distorted image of the bill It cannot be done?

A distorted image is probably fine. Just don't try to make one look "real" or you're asking for trouble. Anything that is copied that looks, even remotely, like it could be spent or mistaken for a genuine bill could possibly get you in trouble. I really don't think you'd want to meet the guys who would end up talking with you. It would really ruin your day.

That said...good luck!

Mark.

Anything you print that might possibly pass as real money, and could possibly be abused, if the Treasury Dept finds out about it, you will be meeting people from the Secret Service and the U.S. Attorney's office. Do not expect them to be magic fans. Besides the commercially available mismade bill isn't all that expensive and you won't end up trying to explain it to the judge.

Yep...Father knows best!

Mark.

As for mis-made bills, you can buy sheets of un-cut money and make your own bills out of real currency.

Mark, I would save money by either buying a Mismade Bill or a color printer. They are both less than paying bail and attorney fees.

Ye it looks like this trick is goig nowhere so I might just drop it or do a version of Jay Sankey's mismade monopoly or something.

Thanks

-Mark Tirone

We hope you the best of luck, especially for the new year.

You can purchase sheets of $1 bills directly from the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. Here is the link: http://www.moneyfactory.gov/store/section.cfm/69/83

Be sure to use a straight edge whilst cutting the bills. You can buy a sheet of 32 bills and cut them down. $55 for the sheet and this will yield 12 mismade bills. Brings your cost to under $5 per mismade bill. You can sell the extra bills to your magician friends and cover your costs!

Devil's advocate...?

is it illegal if you print with no intention to use as a medium of exchange?

It's not, but so does many other magic prop. As long as you don't use this...

I don't think you'll need a big fancy color copier to do this work - Just stop by your local electronics shop and pick up one of those all-in-one printer/copier/scanner machines. Scan the bill in, high resolution, and then use your favorite graphics program to make any changes.

If you're nervous about making copies, just change the "this note is legal tender" part of the bill to say something else - something blatantly obvious about it being fake - something that even the Dept. of the Treasury wouldn't waste time on.... Like... "This is not a chicken tender", or something stupid like that. Maybe make the face a bit Picasso. And don't leave the bills too crisp; I like to crumple them up repeatedly to give them a bit of a worn look.

I made scans of postal stamps, to stick on "these just arrived today" envelopes, and I too was a little paranoid about the legal issues, so I made tiny changes to the stamps. They look real from a few feet away, but close inspection will reveal about 5 different cracks in the Liberty Bell, and instead of "Forever" it says "Fake-ever."

With inexpensive fake bills, you can put them through a paper shredder, set them on fire visibly, eat them, etc. They're a lot of fun, even around the house. I'll never forget my friend's face when I lit a cigar with a burning $100 bill.

Good luck.

There is a method of making a mismade bill that a spectator can keep on Andrew Mayne's Twisted DVD.