I know there are a large number of them. I am one of the sad souls who did not take it seriously and lost my whole wallet after I invested $1,800 into 100 of them a long time a go. It happens and good luck to whom ever finds them.
Bad luck for you, same happens with many users losing their bitcoin wallets. I don't think someone other than the original authority could get the wallet for his goodness. Because every address is unique. Also I believe the lost coins won't affect the bitcoin economy, as they're already calculated on mining.
Its not a bad luck its a disaster. 100
BTC is around 80 000 euros, that is a fortune, and its now bitcoin can cost more and this bitcoins will worth more then now. I dont understand all this with lost coins, how can someone calculate them, after which time coins are lost, and where are people who save coins. This is difficult for me to understand.
After reading this thread, I see there is a lot of people who lost their bitcoins. Probably we will never know exact number of lost coins, one thing bothers me, can someone take advantage of this lost coins and in which way if its possible.
It will surprise you even more as there are people that lost so many coins, that by now they would be multi millionaire. It's reckless behaviour that they will regret and their entire life will not forget. Imagine, you are working for $1500-$2000 per month knowing that you could have been a multi millionaire if you took care of your coin backups. They flushed their one and only ever chance to get millionaire down the drain.