Nick Graver takes me to task this week. He has been saving cents and has a bag full. He writes: "This started a few years back, whenyou were suggesting everyone store bags in expectation of their being more valuable when metal prices would change."

He listed these questions: "What is your current view on this topic? Just how much might they be worth if things went that way? Is it really worth the bother of storing bags?

His final statement "I cannot imagine these cents being valuable enough to be worth the effort."

I replied: The idea of increasing the value of a cent to a nickel was the concept -- which I endorsed -- of the staff economist of the Chicago Federal Reserve Bank, Francois Velde. This would solve several problems -- the rising cost of the metals in which cents were struck, the extreme low economic value of a cent, and if the cents were devalued or recalled, what would the country do with all that copper and zinc?

Velde's suggestion was brilliant. He called it rebasing the coin. Let it continue to circulated but at the higher value. If this happened your $50 bag of cents would be worth $250 in purchasing power. A nice windfall. But this would require a political action by the government. It appears the Treasury has no present desire to do this.

The treasury seems to prefer to continue sticking a cent despite the fact it cost the Mint nearly two cents to strike each cent.

To save or cash in your cents is up to you, Nick.

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
DICK JOHNSON: WHY THE U.S. MINT SHOULD CEASE STRIKING CENTS (www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v13n08a19.html)