A question of ethics.

All good intentions aside, this coin will never get to where it belongs. Too many non-ethical people in the world these days.

 

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I think if I found living in Maryland and Florida that odd for that many years, I would have moved somewhere else.

 

Or what if it is actually a PCGS or NGC slabbed 1895 proof or an 1893-s? You could argue that someone is going to steal it anyway, why not substitute a lesser coin and then take it to the local shop, get $$$ and then give it to the charity it would have gone to anyway, this time a lot faster at full value? The only problem is if you get audited would the IRS ever believe your story without a lot of proof?

So the thing to do would be to post digital pictures or a youtube video online, let it go viral, and then no one would dare steal it.

 

Here's a twist. You rent an apartment. You find a Morgan in a cabinet. What do you do? Find the tenant who lived there before you? Give it to the landlord hoping he finds the previous tenant? Stick it in your pocket...finders keepers?

 

To thine own self be true.

 

Are we answering the question for which the poll is intented, or do we keep changing the question to keep the arguments going?

 

I'd have no problem scooping it up, and replacing it with four quarters.

 

It is all to easy to say "I would do _______" when the situation is currently happening to you. Depending on a persons current circumstances and the person themselves will depend on what the true outcome would be.

I have no idea what i would do, as it has never happened to me

 

Property thrown into a fountain is the property of the owner of the fountain, so it is certainly a petit larceny to take the Morgan, even if you were to replace it with four quarters. One idea to proceed while respecting the rights of all parties involved might be to contact the fountain's owner and offer the four quarters in exchange for the silver dollar. But the bottom line is it is no different than taking a Morgan out of somebody's pocket, even if you replace it with four quarters.

So there is no teleological suspension of the ethical? Not that I necessarily disagree, but I think Jean Valjean might disagree. Not to mention Abraham.

 

Gold Kruggerand's and Morgan Dollars just aren't even close since the gold has a much "easier" and more "profitable" method of exchange. I'd and others would much rather spend $10 in gasoline shopping around a Gold Kruggerand than a Morgan Dollar.

On your logic about "someone owns that fountain", well, someone owns that sidewalk or road or parking lot or intersection. Should change found in the road go back to the city to defray their overhead costs?
Are coins found in the parking lot of a Super Market immediately turned over to the store management?
If you find a dollar bill on the sidewalk in front of a house do you run up to the house and givem their dollar back?

 

I would honestly leave it even though I REAAAAAALLLLLLYYY would want to take it...

There was a point where there was a Kennedy half in the fountain that I wanted bad enough to look up online if it was legal to take it from the fountain lol but i still didnt

 

i frequently take change from the pool of water. But, i give it to the youngest kid and let him throw it in himself. (A) i am not going to waste MY money on this venture. (B) if someone couldn't throw the coin more than 6 inches in the pool, then something is wrong with them. (C) he is too young to make a wish so we are not screwing with the wish fairies.

 

It's not that much of a moral dilemma. The mall and fountain
are private property.

Al Bundy would take it. And the quarters too. And molest the
fountain fairy when she came after him.

 

No, I don't think wishes are worth anything to me, but I didn't throw that coin in the fountain.

Plus, I'm not poor or cheap and I'd rather not fiddle around with someone's original intent to make a hundred bucks or two. Not even for more money.

You want a real ethical argument, say the Morgan is in sight and your family doesn't know where their next meal is coming from? That changes things. That would really put me in an ethical bind.

 

Al never cheated on Peggy.

 

He couldn't, he was always broke.

 

Who decides what is moral and what is not, how did morality come about, wouldn't it be a personal decision.

Course this could lead to political or religious disscussion, can't have that now.

Who here is ethical enough or moral enough to question the other.

 

There's no twisting ethics is there? Like the other poster said. You find a dollar on someone's driveway, do you knock on the door and give it to the owner? What if you found a quarter in the change return of a Pepsi machine? Do you mail it to Pepsi? Ethics are ethics, aren't they? Mall fountains are decorations, not charity drop offs. I bet that money is divided up between the few who know it's been cleaned out. I'd take the Morgan in a minute and not feel guilty. I'd even wade in the water to get it. You'd be a fool not to.

 

I remember when the Salvation Army Christmas Kettles were open for donations to drop in, not with a lid, slot, and lock like now. I used to like peeking in as a child to see what was there, but never thought about trying to take something. Different times.

 

So do I man. Wasn't it nice? I also, along with a couple of other people, helped collect the bills and change when one fell over from the stand in front of the local Kmart one year. I would wager that none of us kept any of the money.

Try knocking over a pot of money in front of a Walmart someday. I bet it would not be the same result.