I spotted a Minnesota state quarter this morning in my change. “Hey,” I said to Mrs. R, “You got a Minnesota quarter?”
“Don’t think so. What’s on it?”
“It’s a giant loon attacking a boat.”
“Let me see that. He is not attacking the boat.”
“Sure he is. Look at the malevolent gleam in his eye.”
“You big fibber. You can’t even see his eye.”
A person of little imagination, Mrs. R is. At least at 5:07 AM. But it got me thinking about better state quarter designs than the ones the Mint picked. For instance, Washington’s could be a giant slug climbing the Space Needle, or a combine harvester with a sack of Federal money emptying over it like a golden rain, or the ferryboat Kalakala ramming a pier. I feel that any of these would be far superior to the official design. Whatever it is. (I just googled and the proposed designs involve Mt Rainier, Indian longhouses, and Grand Coulee dam. How plebian.)
What would be a better design for your state’s quarter?
New York’s quarter is a totally lame rip-off of the Massachussetts quarter. They should have had the New York City skyline. Yes, the upstaters would have hated it, but screw them. More than half the state’s population is here in the city or its immediate suburbs, and that skyline is the epitome of big city-ness.
Michigan’s quarter was ultra-pathetic, and should have at least included a car. Extra cool points would have that car be the Oscar Meyer Weinermobile.
Texas’s was also pretty bad. They should have used either the Alamo or some cowboy iconography.
I concur. But in all fairness, prior to stealing the Bay State quarter design, we did borrow a couple of Kennedys.
On the NYS quarter, the Hudson River looks like a giant fallopian tube growing out of Lake Erie. I like the skyline concept, but seeing the ‘small billing’ NYC got on the license plates (compared to the amount of space devoted to Niagra Falls & the Adirondacks / Catskills region), I’m not surprised
Ah, a complaint close to my heart. Most of these quarters are disasters. If you want an example, look at Louisiana – their quarter is the numismatic equivalent of a fashion victim. Imagine the discussion in their design committee: “Let’s see, we’ve got the Louisiana Purchase, we’ve got the pelican, what else? Oh, crap, we forgot the trumpet. Wait, there’s a little space here at the top to stick it in. How’s that? What? You want some musical notes? Oh, good idea – just so that people know that… that… Perfect!”
And Indiana – do they have nothing more to say for their state than that they have a big car race every year? On reflection, probably not.
Hey, Missouri – what’s with the broccoli? And why “Corps” of discovery?
But to answer the OP, I have to say that my home state of Massachusetts played it awfully safe, and gets a zero for effort. Myself, I’d have put a big, fat cod.
Thanks to the OP, by the way, for the instructive link. Check out the proposed designs for New Mexico. I have to say I, uh… have my doubts about design number two.
That should have been on Wisconsin’s quarter, since Oscar Meyer is based here.
Our quarter was the absolute worst. It’s bad enough that anytime I travel and people find out where I’m from they ask “Do you live on a farm?”. ( I don’t) We do have actual cities here and many amazing natural features and some interesting history.
So what is on our quarter? A cow’s head, an ear of corn, and a wheel of cheese. Oh, and they had the audacity to place our state’s motto “Forward” on there while they steadfastly look backward at our agrarian past.
Wiscon’s cow looks like Paul Bunyan’s ox. Check out Hawaii’s suggested designs, they seem to have a lot of artists. Personally, I like the flower one, with the outline of a person sitting on it, but there’s another which I guess is Totem pole, and looks like a masked thumb.
New York’s was unremarkable, I barely even noticed our quarter was released. Most of the coins are just the state’s outline, with a special symbol tacked on. We need more creativity.
And I love your interpretation of the Minnisota coin, I never noticed the glint in its eye.
I like the Louisana quarter with the lady raising her shirt and with the state motto as “Show Us Your Tits”. I’ve seen the design floating around on the Internet but I don’t want to directly link to it here.
I can’t complain too much about Maryland’s, especially as every other design I can think of would have ended up being one of those weird collages on top of the state’s outline. That type of design (Louisiana and Tennessee are the ones I remember in particular) always bugs me, while Connecticut’s is my favorite. But then, I’m fond of trees.
