I see coins that remain in fountains for ages, that has not been stolen.
How does such a thing happen.
Is there something that I don’t know about? An example, could there be a secret dye that turns your hand purple if you stick it in?
I rather suspect that most of humanity would consider it rather boorish to stoop so low as to demean yourself by stealing a handfull of coins from a public fountain. What could you get—maybe a good meal?
If the fountain is public, then it’s hard for some degenerate to do this without being seen.
If it were secret dye, it wouldn’t really work, now would it? You’d still need for someone to try it before they found out.
Only kids are willing to make sopping wet asses of themselves for $4.67 in pennies.
No, the change in the fountain is not one of those things you can “gather in the wild for free” then resell like a leech.
Joe
What you are seeing isn’t likely “the same coins there for ages.” Most owners of fountains that collect coins sweep them regularly. What you are seeing is those coins tossed in since the last time it was swept.
In a number of locales it’s illegal to enter a fountain and grab the coins. In Vegas that’s good for a few months in jail.
The famous Trevi fountain was for decades maintained by a family that would periodically take out the coins. Everyone believed they had an official role and the money was being used for public benefit. Turned out, they had just been doing it for a long time, keeping the money, and they had no official role.
You ARE only asking out of curiosity, right?
I was at a (US) National Park this year. A ranger mentioned that coins left in the park are treated as donations to the park. Every once in a while, coins are gathered up and cleaned. I wouldn’t be surprised if some or all the coins given in change at the gift shop were tossed by tourists.
Coins tossed into the wishing wells at Disney theme parks go to children’s charities. The coins tossed into their fountains and other water places likely does also, but I can’t find a cite.
I can’t believe that the OP has never touched the water in a fountain or seen someone else touch the water in a fountain. I mean, purple dye?
There’s a well-known children’s book (well it was well-known when I was a kid) in which runaway children bath in a mall’s fountain after hours - and take the money.
Not a mall! The Metropolitan Museum of Art. And they were trying to solve an art mystery so totally deserved it. 
“From the Mixed up Files of Mrs Basil E Frankweiler” Great book.
Yep, that’s the one (and you’re right - it was a museum, not a mall - oops).
I always think of them when I’m at any art museum. I thought they were so adventurous and brave when I was a kid.
And for the OP, many fountains collect the money for charity.
And many fountains have cameras on them, otherwise we wouldn’t get the amusing videos of people falling in while texting.
YES. I have more lucrative (and legal) hustles to tend to.
And the purple dye thing is hypothetical. I know that doesn’t happen in reality.
Back before my grandfather died in 1945 (I’ve been told) he worked for the Niagara Falls Maintenance Dept., or whatever it was called. Once a month, he and his partner had the job of going down into the small pool where people would throw coins. It required one guy being in a harness and the other guy holding it at the top. Whoever had the harness job that month would get to keep the change.
That’s family lore from a man who died twenty years before I was born, but for what it’s worth, and for the details I got wrong, most of it is on the money.
i believe the purple dye is for those who pee in the fountain while taking the coins.
i do know of a fellow that takes coins out of fountains, not officially, just does. his size and mental state keep him from being stopped or arrested.
Public Service Announcement: you are free to pee in as many pools as you want without getting caught, you’re just an ass. There is no chemical that turns your pee red, nor has there ever been.
I’d imagine that when they remove the coins, they also leave some, to encourage future tossing.
This is also a plot point in classical episode Beavis and Butt-head’s Island, where they become stranded on a mall island after the water fills up while they’re stealing coins.