To the Fountains! NYPD Says Coins are Up for Grabs

A photographer with the AP snapped this shot of a local entrepreneur prospecting for coins in the City Hall fountain. The Post has no details about how much the individual raked in, or how much hepatitis he picked up, but an NYPD spokesman says that, unlike Italy, it's actually perfectly legal to submerge oneself in the city's fountains to gather change and steal all the heartfelt wishes and prayers attached to them. And what about the maintenance workers who presumably use all the coins for a year-end pizza party? They have only themselves to blame for not diving in there sooner; this is NYC, baby. As E.B. White wrote, "No one should come to New York to live unless he is willing to be lucky." Unidentified fountain dredger, we salute you!

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By John Del Signore in News on August 27, 2008 10:20 AM

Comments [rss]

Tommy Stoddard

coins from fountains are filthy and corroded until cleaned by fountaincoins.com and then donated to charity using fountaincoin.blogspot.com

Tommy Stoddard

This money should go to a deserving charity as discussed at http:fountaincoins.blogspot.co...

NannyState

I just fish out the Euros.

Snoopy

I threw twelve lira (a ten spot and two ones) in the Trevi fountain back in 1971 and sure as shit I went back there three years later. I guess it works.

escherichia

i never dump anything more valuable than a nickel in fountains, pennies mostly. if they want to jump in for that, i have absolutely no problem with it.

Snoopy

How does this "professional" make any money if he keeps tossing his own coins in the fountain and retrieve them. By volume of transactions?

robingee

Do people pee in the fountains?

tmedina1

The guy in this picture is at the fountain near city hall. Me and my friend watched him shoot coins he fetched out the fountain for about an hour, and found it so hilarious because he did it as if he was shooting a basketball in the NBA finals. Contrary to the post's stupid claim, he is NOT stealing coins out of the fountain but simply playing some crazy game he invented. I wish I was having as much fun as him.

jenspellnogood

i see an obama ad in the future.

seriously though - i am shocked, there's still hope in bloombergville.

mattcarman

It is strange that you're allowed to go into a fountain if you're taking coins, but not if you're just having a good time.

Fritzdecat

toss in a bar of ivory soap so the bums can get a real bath while they are at it

Snoopy

What the city should do, and probably will do, is post a NYPD or Parks department employee, who will cost the city $75,000 a year, at the fountain to make sure no one dives in to collect the coins thrown into the fountain. The officer will catch suspicious divers and hold their heads underwater until they confess that they were going for that rare near mint state quarter in the deep end of the fountain.

MatthewJC

I [heart] you, Neil, for quoting the Goonies.

schadenfreudian mensch

@Neil Epstein

Seriously, that sounds like the beginning of a poem.

esquared

I bet you that if someone gets injured or does catch hepatitis or whatever disease when submerging oneself in the city's fountains to gather change, they'll sue the city for not posting a warning sign.

r1b2

I think the coins are open territory, but that people are not permitted to enter the fountains. I believe there's some concern around liability, drowning, etc. that prohibits people entering fountians, to cool off or otherwise. That said, where's my snorkel gear? I'm short for lunch money.

Neil Epstein

1) You can't just take these. They're somebody else's wishes, someone else's dreams. 2.) Oh yeah? Well this one, this one right here- this was my dream, MY WISH. And it didn't come true, so I'm taking it back. I'm taking them all back.

ed_Extinct

the Giant fountain (and by giant i mean mostly concrete and very little water) fountain at World Wide Plaza in Midtown, is chlorinated.

dandeluca

This is great. It's very New York to let them jump in if they want for the coins. I'm glad the law-and-order types haven't gone so far as to ban stuff like this. We have to preserve a bit of the free-for-all that gives NYC its vitality.