May 23 2007Silver Surfer Ruins Currency
Equivalent historical figures.
As a new publicity stunt for Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, Fox has teamed up with the foremost maker of collectible crap, the Franklin Mint, to issue 40,000 specially designed Silver Surfer coins across America. And if you're lucky enough to receive one of the cheap-looking things, you can redeem it for a variety of fantastic prizes, such as Burger King Crown Cards!
The site seems to imply the quarters will actually be in circulation, which I had assumed must be illegal after they're defaced with corporate sponsorship, but it turns out just hadn't been thought of yet. Even if Fox did somehow get these legalized for spending, I can't imagine anyone anyone accepting them without knowing about the campaign. In my mind, a superhero printed on one side of a coin would be one of the top warning signs of a fake coin.
Reader Comments
1. Chris - May 23, 2007 1:54 PM
Hate to break it to you, but defacing US currency and coinage is perfectly legal (as it should be) as long as there is no intent to defraud. These coins are perfectly legal, but ugly and tasteless; altering a $1 bill with the numbers and portrait from a $5 to get more money from a change machine is not.
2. Loli - May 23, 2007 2:02 PM
It looks like they might just be a sticker or something that could be peeled off - kind of like one of those stickers they have on monopoly cups at McDonalds.
3. Mac - May 23, 2007 3:52 PM
That is one seriously ugly collectible.
4. Kevin Wayne Williams - May 23, 2007 10:54 PM
One of our local sodas (Dobel Shot) ran a campaign like this about 10 years ago, with a "Dobel Shot" sticker perfectly sized to fit on the back of a guilder coin. I still get guilder coins with that sticker a few times a week ... they are amazingly durable.