Lost and found

Practically all will either sell, give away, or discard items after a certain period has passed to clear their storage.

Napoleon ordered his prefect of police to establish it as a central place "to collect all objects found in the streets of Paris", according to Jean-Michel Ingrandt, who was appointed the office's director in 2001.

[2] However, it was not until 1893 that Louis Lépine, then prefect of police, organized efforts to actively track down the owners of lost items.

Among the more peculiar items that have been handed in include a wedding dress, ashes in an urn, a longcase clock, a kitchen sink, and several wheelchairs.

This is the case, for instance, at the University of Illinois, where different campus units have both distinct offices and different unofficial retention and resolution policies (rules for how long to keep items and what to do with them once that period has expired).