Fountain Diving for Coins

Fun article about a guy who grabs the coins from a fountain in NYC.
I am thinking about finding this guy and buying the coinage from him. Who knows, maybe find some good coins.
http://nyp.st/29xP9JF

 

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Interesting. I wonder if it's illegal. If it isn't, I wonder why more don't do it. I don't have a problem with it. It's just sitting there, corroding

 

It is probably violating a Park rule to enter into the fountain. But if no one stops you, I gather it's ok.
Story says the guy picks up 60 bucks a day from various spots around Manhattan.
After this story he will get nabbed and have to lay low for awhile.
But in a few weeks he will be back
FH. ( Fountain Hunting)
Good luck to him.

 

In some cases it is also a violation of park rules to throw coins into the water. I have seen such signs in zoos or parks a lot. Even at the FDR Memorial in Washington DC they don't want you to leave FDR dimes in the water. Or any other coins.

What the guy does would certainly be against the law at the Fontana di Trevi in Rome by the way: Tourists leave lot of coins (about half a million euro per year!) there, and only the city of Rome is allowed to get the coins out. They clean the fountain (once a week, or so), take the coins out and give them to Caritas, a religious charity organization. However, there are also organized thieves who try and grab the money ...

Christian

 

I've been to most parks here in NYC and I have seen something posted about entering fountains not allowed. Also signs deterring people from taking coins. This guy has nothing to lose so why not?
There is another guy or in midtown who drops a rope with a small weight with a sticky substance on the end into the sidewalk openings. The electrical, subway and other utilities have grills protecting there under sidewalk units and a lot of coins and jewelry fall into them accidentally.

 

They are called grates. Here is one article..
http://nypost.com/2013/04/28/grate-catch/

 

I have ALWAYS wanted to do this...

 

Its against the law yep

 

So have I, take metal detector and see what's deep but cant afford bail

 

Talk about metal detecting.. Here are my July 4th beach finds.. 4 hours

 

Oh, on a Monday you cause me pain, good for you, hope you found something interesting. Now I got that itch, ya know just grab my gear and go, really nice, I know this site isn't about detectors but what were you using?

 

And this past Saturday

 

Your killin me, I haven't even finished my 1st cup of coffee

 

60 bucks well I'm going to have to rethink things, 60 bucks

 

Impressive catch. What's been your most valuable find and most interesting?

 

My local municipality cleans the fountains every three months or so and deposits them into one of the banks I occasionally buy rolled coin from. I try to avoid searching those rolls, particularly cents - they are a mess.

 

I use a Whites Classic 5ID. Heavy and more of a coin detector than for anything else. I need to upgrade to any Garret.
Here are more pics from my last trip on Saturday

 

Their buried in the safe somewhere so take the description with a grain of salt, I detected 9; 1853?- seated liberty dimes and a 1800's "V" nickel, I detectected them in the soil 5-7ft from someones sump pump hose? I always and still do if they got sucked up in the flooded basement but I'm not sure if items can pass through a pump. I also have a 1864 ABM LINCOLN CAMPAIGN token with a moon shaped piece that looks like it didnt exit the machine fast enough (found detecting an attic)

 

I also have a 1967 silver quarter, as you know they didnt make 67 silver quarters, found in my pocket change, I have to have that looked at, its not plated. I'm not entirely sure how or where to send it. FYI while going through college I worked part time as a electoplater, we used to gold plate are car keys or silver/nickel plate other stuff for fun, sorry if I ramble I dont remember as well as I used to

 

Would be nice to see pics of the 1967 quarter. Curious as to how you know it's not plated. Have you measured the diameter and weighed it? Might be from a SMS set. There is a rare double die SMS 1967 quarter.

Cal