Quarters A La Carte: If I Ran the Mint

The final designs for all 50 state commemorative quarters have been approved, and by the end of next year all 50 will be in circulation.  Some of these are striking and emblematic images which will stand the test of time.  Others leave all but the most esoterically informed viewers scratching their heads in bewilderment.  Thanks to the miracle of Internet transparency, philatelists and dilettantes-at-large can examine the proposed designs that were ultimately eclipsed by the winning quarter here.  Then you can indulge in a little armchair coinage, as I have done, and select the alternate quarter design of your fancy.  Just imagine...

Some of these, admittedly, belong on the drawing room floor.  But come on, how did West Virginia not get to go with the guy jumping off the bridge?  Blatant favoritism on the part of the judges, no doubt...

Comments

[GreenmanTim]

TH, these would be my picks for best designs in each year:

99 - NJ ('cause Caesar Rodney is indistinguishable from Paul Revere)

00 - tough year. I've never liked the VA design, and the MD one is utterly unforgetable. The Old Man of the Mountains fell off the mountain before the quarter came out, making this more a memorial than a commemorative. What does that leave? Boring MA, with one less icon cluttering up the state map than SC.

01 - Rhode Island.

02 - LA (irridentist though it be)

03 - ME (MO a close second)

04 - IO

05- CA

06 - Neb.

07 - MT

08 - AK

[TigerHawk]

There's a tiny little farm woman on the Iowa quarter. Just sayin'.

So here's a great WTB contest: What were the best final designs in each year?

Here are mine: 99 - New Jersey
00 - Virginia
01 - Kentucky
02 - Tennessee (the least ugly in a bad year)
03 - Mizzou
04 - Iowa
05 - California (the best in a strong year)
06 - Nevada
07 - Montana and Utah - Both are excellent
08 - Alaska

I generally agree, though, that the whole exercise was a little too chamber-of-commerce for my tastes. But what do you expect from an essentially political exercise? The last American politician to understand the importance of beautiful coinage was probably Theodore Roosevelt, who hired Augustus St. Gauden to design the most beautiful coins in our history.

[Tour Marm]

What strikes me is that there is only one American woman (Helen Keller), no Native Americans (with the exception of King Kamehameha), and certainly no minorities honored.

Oklahoma, Alaska, ans New Mexico wimped out. They should have depicted the pioneer woman, , Native Alaskans (Eskimos/Inuits), and Southwest Native Americans respectively. Honestly, New Mexico, was that the best you could come up with?

And for Maine: Where's the lobster? For Florida: Where's the flamingo?

I've been so disappointed with these coins, but certainly not as upset as with the paper currency, don't get me started on THAT!