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 Replies: 12 / Views: 1,357 |
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Bedrock of the Community
United Kingdom
17918 Posts |
I work in an open-plan office and all the desks have a shallow top tray where people keep pens and stationery. Many people also keep a bit of change for the coffee machine or toss in the odd foreign coin brought back from a work trip - and then forget about it!  When we had an 'office move', and several desks near mine were vacated, I went through the pen trays and was amazed at what I got! Lots of British 1p and 2p coins, quite a few low denomination Euro coins, a US States Quarter (that I didn't have!) and an Indian commemorative. My best find was a 50% silver 1944 florin, which was among a small batch of obsolete large-size 10p coins (withdrawn in 1992!)  If I'm hovering around someone's desk and the pen tray is open, I'll have a quick look, and if I see something nice I might say "Oh, did you just go to Thailand?" or "Isn't that a Jersey 20p?" In nearly all cases they give me the coins!  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1109 Posts |
I had one of the guys I work with give me a huge (like the size of a water cooler jug) jug filled to the brim with mostly Lincoln cents. He said he overheard me talking about collecting coins and told me I could look through them and keep any I found that I wanted. I found some wheat cents in there (no S-VDB, darn it), several Canadian cents, some Euros, an East German pfennig, and one Showbiz Pizza token. I tried to give him cash for cash but he said no. He insisted I just keep what I found. All in all, I kept about .30 cents US out of it (plus all the foreign stuff), but it was fun looking!
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Moderator
 United States
14463 Posts |
I work at night, looking through people's desks at night would be discouraged.  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1200 Posts |
Going through other people's desks and visually scanning the contents of co-worker's desks are definitely ideas, but I'm not sure if they're very good ones.
If a purse, wallet or something else of value disappears, you might find yourself the subject of unwanted management interest.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3253 Posts |
I prefer to just go through my co-workers' pockets...
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Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
739 Posts |
Are they wearing them at the time |
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Moderator
United States
188130 Posts |
One should probably seek the advice of legal counsel before attempting this sort of treasure hunt. Or, at the very least, get permission from the target desk's current occupant. |
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Valued Member
United States
331 Posts |
How funny. Y'all are cracking me up today.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
7840 Posts |
This would probably not go over very well going through peoples "drawers"; whether there were pens in them or something else.
Edited by oih82w8
07/11/2013 11:23 am
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
20753 Posts |
Some time ago in a large Engineering organization there was a massive layoff due to the stopping of Nuclear Power Stations construction. One entire floor of people were left go all at once. A small group of people were assigned to go through all the desks and discard almost anything and everything. They were told that if they wanted, they could keep whatever they wanted. It was amazing how many of those desks had coins of some sort left in them. Usually of small denominations but that did accumulate to a substantial amount. And naturally nothing in Numismatic value. And too just how many pens and pencils could one use.
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Bedrock of the Community
 United Kingdom
17918 Posts |
Hi guys - no, I wasn't suggesting anyone broke into co-workers' desks withouut permission! I've never done that! My lucky finds were entirely authorised - a whole section of our building had been vacated and my boss actually asked me to look through all the desks to throw out any rubbish and 'recycle' anything useful like unused company stationery...  But if a colleague has the pen drawer open and I happen to spot something interesting inside it, then I do speak out. Of course, working in a company where lots of employees make overseas trips, there's a fairly good chance of finding a coin I haven't got!  Edited by NumisRob
07/11/2013 3:37 pm
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Rest in Peace
United States
4078 Posts |
Glad you did explain this after a number of questions. |
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Valued Member
Brazil
117 Posts |
No, my workplace is too... I didn't found a definition yet. But it would cause me a lot of problems. They don't even know me as a collector
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Replies: 12 / Views: 1,357 |
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Posted 07/11/2013 04:14 am
