Certification guidelines announced for US Mint’s Mutilated Coin Redemption Program

The Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI), Washington, has announced the U.S. Mint has released certification requirements for its recently resumed Mutilated Coin Redemption Program.

In December 2017, the U.S. Mint announced the resumption of the Mutilated Coin Redemption Program after a nearly three-year suspension.

ISRI, which applauded the decision, says it helped to lead “the successful effort to resume the program and provided guidance and suggestions to the Mint, including site visits and certification for large redeemers.”

Jan. 8, 2018, the U.S. Mint provided details about submission amounts and frequency that will trigger the certification requirements, which can be found on the agency’s website.

ISRI says, “If certification is required, it must be completed prior to submission of coins. Certification will not be required for each submission. The threshold amounts, frequency and certification process information will be provided on the Mint’s website. Other provisions of the December announcement indicate that the Mint reserves the right to require participants to include an estimate of the value of the coins and an explanation of how the coins came to be bent or partial. Participants may also be required to provide documentation about how they came into custody of these coins. The Mint also reserves the right to test samples from any submission to authenticate the material. Furthermore, the Mint has the authority to refer suspicious submissions to law enforcement for investigation.”

Robin Wiener, president of ISRI, said at the time of the announcement that the U.S. Mint worked closely with the recycling industry to better understand the sorting and separating technologies used in scrap facilities, among other industry topics. The program is worth millions of dollars to the recycling industry, which recovers coins left in end-of-life products turned over for scrap processing, ISRI says.

Information about the Mutilated Coin Redemption Program can be found on the websites of ISRI and the U.S. Mint. As part of the Mint’s notice in December, the agency announced that large redeemers could be subject to a certification process, depending on the submission amounts and frequency of submissions.

“Each person (participant) who physically transports, mails, or ships or causes to be physically transported, mailed or shipped mutilated U.S. coins to the United States Mint for redemption is required to submit an application,” the agency says on its website.