The Wonderful World of the Gundampilotspaz

A Marvel Comics hero is giving George Washington some company on the quarter, but the U.S. Mint doesn’t think the stunt is so super.

To promote the upcoming film “Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer,” 20th Century Fox and The Franklin Mint altered 40,000 U.S. quarters to feature the character.

The U.S. Mint said in a news release Friday that it learned of the promotional quarter this week and advised the studio and The Franklin Mint they were breaking the law. It is illegal to turn a coin into an advertising vehicle, and violators can face a fine.

 The promotion is in no way approved, authorized, endorsed, or sponsored by the United States Mint, nor is it in any way associated or affiliated with the United States Mint,” according to the release. The federal mint did not say whether the studio or the private Franklin Mint would face a penalty.

The altered coins are quarters honoring the state of California that entered circulation in 2005. They feature George Washington on the front, as usual, but a colorized version of the character on the back. All 40,000 are slated to be in circulation throughout the country by the end of Memorial Day weekend, and about 800 were released in each state.

Let’s start off by saying this is a silly promotion, who wants a normal quarter with a Silver Surfer sticker on it? That sounds like something that a ten year old would do.

 But the insane part of the whole thing is that the United States mint seems to be going overboard especially, as the last part of the article says, the Franklin Mint does this sort of thing all the time. In fac just browsing the website you can find similar products. (Of course in that case they defaced a silver Eagle which is a much more beautiful coin then the quarter)

I guess the Mint just isn’t thrilled about having a herald  of Galactus on official United States currency.  Which is understandable.

Source: MSNBC

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