Cute dog, my husky never would have held still like that, he probably would have tried to eat the pennies then spat them out and ran across the back of my couch sideways like a berm. Lol at the “Lincoln Log” name, clever title for it.
I grabbed this from an article about cutting coins for jewelry. It looks like it’s not illegal to modify the coins as long as you have no fraudulent intent. In other words, you aren’t altering the value or presenting the coin to be something it isn’t, and you aren’t melting it down to sell as metal. Regardless, I think it’s borderline paranoia to worry about the Feds showing up over $0.20 worth of currency.
U.S. Code is 18 U.S.C. §331 reads: “Whoever fraudulently alters, defaces, mutilates, impairs, diminishes, falsifies, scales or lightens any of the coins coined at the mints of the United States, or any foreign coins which are by law made current or are in actual use or circulation as money within the United States; or whoever fraudulently possesses, passes, utters, publishes, or sells, or attempts to pass, utter, publish, or sell, or brings into the United States, any such coin, knowing the same to be altered, defaced, mutilated, impaired, diminished, falsified, scaled or lightened - shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both. [Emphasis added.]”
Section 331 of Title 18 of the United States code provides criminal penalties for anyone who ’fraudulently alters, defaces, mutilates impairs, diminishes, falsifies, scales, or lightens any of the coins coined at the Mints of the United States. This statute means that you may be violating the law if you change the appearance of the coin and fraudulently represent it to be other than the altered coin that it is. As a matter of policy, the U.S. Mint does not promote coloring, plating or altering U.S. coinage: however, there are no sanctions against such activity absent fraudulent intent. (Source U.S. Mint)