Nearly 3 million Carson City coins auctioned

Can you tell me what was in the General Services Administration inventory of Carson City dollars when the auction sales began?

The inventory was without question the largest single accumulation of Carson City silver dollars. By date, followed by number of pieces, it included:

1878-CC 60,993
1879-CC 4,123
1880-CC 131,529
1881-CC 147,485
1882-CC 605,029
1883-CC 755,518
1884-CC 962,638
1885-CC 148,285
1889-CC 1
1890-CC 3,949
1891-CC 5,687
1892-CC 1
1893-CC 1

The total was 2,937,695 coins.

Wasn?t Paul Volcker one of the proponents of doing away with the cent?

The former chairman of the Federal Reserve System was undersecretary of the Treasury in the 1970s. Volcker was in fact one of the leaders in the effort to get production of the cent halted.

Didn?t Abraham Lincoln have something to say on the topic of return postage, which seems to be one of your pet peeves?

Indeed! The story is told that a woman autograph collector wrote to Lincoln for a ?sentiment.? In reply she got a letter that read, ?Dear Madam: When you ask of a stranger that which is of use only to yourself, always enclose a stamp. There?s your sentiment, and here?s your autograph. ? A. Lincoln.?

Aren?t those who oppose the abolition of the one cent coin using a rather ?dated? argument?

Perhaps a bit out of context, yes. But the very same argument was advanced in the late 1700s by no less a personage than Alexander Hamilton, who argued for the introduction of the half cent denomination by citing the very real possibility that merchants, for lack of a half cent, would round prices up to a full cent. If this sounds familiar, that?s because it is exactly the argument used today: Prices would be rounded up to the nearest nickel. The current argument ignores the fact that a four-cent rounding today is a small fraction of the value of a half cent in Hamilton?s day.

Address questions to Coin Clinic, Numismatic News, 700 E. State St., Iola, WI 54990. Because of space limitations, we are unable to publish all questions. Include a loose 41-cent stamp for reply. Write first for specific mailing instructions before submitting numismatic material. We cannot accept unsolicited items. E-mail inquiries should be sent to Answerman2@aol.com.