Testing the honesty of others is not exactly a new catch - in 2016, for example, we showed how people behaved with self-managed ice cream freezers. Now, however, we bring the story of an artist who decided to leave 100, 000 pennies in a fountain to see how the crowd would behave.

The “artistic installation” was placed in Cambridge, UK, last Saturday (8) at 8 am: Englishwoman Anna Brownsted left no less than £ 1, 000, the equivalent of £ 5, 400, a source to see if the pennies would stay there after 48 hours, which would be the exposure time of the experiment.

Anna Brownsted dumped 356 kg of coins in a fountain

However, even with warnings that the site was monitored by cameras, no less than 99% of the pennies “disappeared”. By Sunday morning (9), just over 24 hours later, only £ 1.66 was left - the equivalent of $ 9! “It was an experiment on the dynamics of human behavior and our complex reactions to intense situations, ” explained Brownsted, who does not consider the disappearance a theft as people were provoked and led into such behavior.

Even so, the artist was struck by how quickly the pennies were gone, as she hoped that there was so much left that could be donated to charity. The amount was funded by the arts council England, which also made other less provocative installations in Cambridge over the weekend. And you, dear reader, what would you have done?

Coins virtually gone in less than 24 hours

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