To be this gutted about a 50p coin?

[EmAreSea]

I mean I know I am, but still.

Lost my purse a couple of weeks ago. It took me quite a while to realise it was missing because a- I mostly use Apple Pay on my phone so don’t tend to use my purse that much and b- I’ve just moved house so assumed it was lying around in a box somewhere. I wasn’t worried about it, there’d not been any fraudulent use of my card so I knew it hadn’t been stolen.

Like a lot of people, as well as the usual cards and stuff I also have a few sentimental things in there- a prayer card I picked up at the hospice where my Dad was looked after before he died, an old style £5 note folded into an origami heart, a lucky King George penny and a Peter Rabbit 50p coin that I came upon by chance and had never spent because I knew it was special.

Got a card over the weekend- turns out my purse has been handed in to TfL. Woohoo! Went and got it back today, and when she handed it over the woman went “Oh, and there was 50p in there wasn’t there?” goes over to a till, takes out a random 50p coin and gives it to me.

It turns out when stuff like purses are handed in TfL takes all the money out, counts it and puts it in a safe, some goes back in the till and the rest goes in the bank. Obviously when doing this nobody noticed that my 50p wasn’t actually in the change section of my purse, or that it was a special coin. So my Peter Rabbit 50p is gone and I can never get it back. I know I could go on eBay or whatever and buy another but it won’t be my Peter Rabbit 50p. I get really attached to things like that, and felt like it was extra special because it found me, I wasn’t even trying to get hold of one. Plus, you know, they’re rare!

I know I should be grateful to have my purse at all, but I just feel really sad about it. To think that it had been safe in purse right up until some office policy dictated that it had to be taken out just because, and now it’s gone forever. I’m absolutely gutted.

[BykerBykerOoh]

Think of it as sending a bit of luck out in return for getting your purse back. Hopefully it will bring someone else some happiness.

[TheAlternativeTentacle]

Did you ask which till yours had been put into and if by chance it was still there?

[TheAlternativeTentacle]

If it is really a lucky charm, it will still be there.

[EmAreSea]

TheAlternativeTentacle I did ask, but she didn’t even look in the till, she just said it will have been banked by now.

[Pumpkinsalad]

As a coin collector I'd be gutted about this. I hope one finds it's way to you soon

[CheshireChat]

Just keep an eye out, there's lots of different Peter Rabbit coins out so you can definitely find another one and then it'll be your 50p coin.

I have some foreign coins with the total lunar eclipse saved for about a decade so I get it.

[Sparklesocks]

I understand OP, humans are sentimental beings and it’s funny what we become attached to even if we know logically it might not be important in the big scheme of things. Life is so complicated and busy, it’s the small things like this that can anchor us as they are constants when everything else is chaos - I understand your attachment and I’m sorry you lost your coin.

I used to carry a silly scrap of paper with a smiley face that my friend had absent mindedly doodled for me years before. It made me think of her and seeing it in my purse reminded me of our younger days when she had drawn it. One day a drink leaked in my bag and ruined it, and I had to chuck it away. I was really upset, I knew it was silly as my friend and I were still close and I had plenty of other mementoes/photos of our friendship - and I could ask her to draw me another if I really wanted! But it was still a loss. So I completely get it!

[easyandy101]

Yeah id be gutted too

They aren't worth much (50p normally) but I likewise get attached to stuff

Lost a tin recently and it had some expensive things in it but the most gutting thing was a 3d printed plastic rabbit silhouette I found at a festival

[GameSetMatch]

DH spent my Tom Kitten 50p once, I was gutted I understand you.

[LochJessMonster]

To think that it had been safe in purse right up until some office policy dictated that it had to be taken out just because,

Err no, it was safe in a purse right up until you lost your purse...

[GreatBigNoise]

Think of it as sending a bit of luck out in return for getting your purse back. Hopefully it will bring someone else some happiness.

That’s a really nice way to think about it.

[TheRattleBag]

If it was a 2017 Peter Rabbit, there were almost 20 million of them minted, so you have decent chance of another one finding its way to you and becoming your Peter Rabbit

2017 Peter Rabbit

[RebootYourEngine]

What 50p was it? I see Peter rabbit 50ps everywhere. They are quite common. I am sure that you will find another one.

[ToastyFingers]

I work in a shop and see at least 20 of these a shift. If you let me know which one your after I'll keep it aside and send it to you if you'd like.

I love the pretty 50ps, I found a paddington bear one the other day.

[Cailleachian]

Keep watching out.

Another special coin will find you.

[Saisong]

Which year Peter Rabbit coin was it? There have been different ones each year since 2016.
I can understand your angst though - I have a little zip pocket in my purse of random pretty coins, I jealously guard them even from my kids!

[ArgumentativeAardvaark]

Were the other sentimental things still safe? Those sound much more precious than the 50p so maybe try to the glass as being half full in that you got those back? I do know what you mean about irrational attachment to things though. I have an old broken radio that was my late Dad’s- my DH almost binned it because he had no idea what it meant to me and had seen me ruthlessly chuck all manner of electrical items in the past. If it had gone it I would have been heartbroken.


I don’t understand what you mean though by “TfL takes all the money out, counts it and puts it in a safe, some goes back in the till and the rest goes in the bank*. What goes into the safe? Do you mean it goes in a safe temporarily then it’s banked/used in the till?

[SachaStark]

I didn’t realise special coins were a thing! I thought they were all those kind of scam things you see advertised on daytime TV, where you have to pay way over the odds for a commemorative piece.

Surely the lesson here is not to keep special coins in a purse, because keeping them in a purse is surely an indication to other people that they are intended to be spent

[cantfindname]

Aaaw I had a special 50p coin for years until, like you, I lost my purse. I have no idea what it commemorated but it had a circle of dolphins on it and I never saw another despite working in a shop and handling money all the time!

[PrimeMumister]

I have a spare peter rabbit coin if you wanted it, I know it's not the same though

[DishingOutDone]

Did you get the £5 note and the King George penny back OP?

[IncrediblySadToo]

Surely the lesson here is not to keep special coins in a purse, because keeping them in a purse is surely an indication to other people that they are intended to be spent

No one should be spending anything outnof someone else’s purse! Barking comment.

Em. I totally understand, I’m hugely sentimental about ‘stuff’ and there’s been ‘daft’ stuff I’ve cried over losing. But I’d be happy to have got the other bits back. The TFL thing is to ‘protect’ you and the staff from theft/accusations of theft. Try not to take it personally.

Hopefully another little Peter Rabbit will find you! He might not be ‘yours’ but it might be!

At least it wasn’t something like your great, great, grannies wedding ring!

[ZeroFuchsGiven]

Which one was it op? If You show me the image I have more than likely got a duplicate of it. I will be happy to post it to You. I collect 50ps and have many many duplicates.

[Sunshine1235]

Why don’t you accept one of the offers on here to send you a new coin? Then every time you see it it will remain you of the kindness of strangers

[ElizaDee]

I'd be sending some emails. I'd want to know exactly WHY they remove other people's money from their belongings and not just put the whole lot in a safe/lost property. I would kick up such a stink until they change their policy.