# Better State Quarter designs **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 11, 2005, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/better-state-quarter-designs/303399 "2005-05-11T15:50:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![betenoir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/258eb7/32.png) [@betenoir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/betenoir)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2005, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/better-state-quarter-designs/303399/21 "2005-05-12T03:09:21Z")
> [@Robot Arm](#): > > Well, they should re-do the New Hampshire one, anyway. The Old Man of the Mountain collapsed. And how pathetic is that? Best we could come up with and it falls apart a couple months later. Maybe we could have someone driving without a seatbelt (Live free…OR DIE). Or maybe a little picture of someone from Massachusetts buying beer and cigarettes and not paying sales tax. ---
**Author:** ![brianjedi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@brianjedi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brianjedi)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2005, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/better-state-quarter-designs/303399/22 "2005-05-12T03:35:20Z")
> [@betenoir](#): > > And how pathetic is that? Best we could come up with and it falls apart a couple months later. Maybe we could have someone driving without a seatbelt (Live free…OR DIE). Or maybe a little picture of someone from Massachusetts buying beer and cigarettes and not paying sales tax. I thought the NH state motto was “Live free… or cheap.” /stolen from “The West Wing” ---
**Author:** ![Mona\_Lott](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ee7513/32.png) [@Mona\_Lott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mona_Lott)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2005, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/better-state-quarter-designs/303399/23 "2005-05-12T04:38:36Z")
Please, PLEASE, **PLEASE** , don’t let Idaho’s state quarter have a potato on it. We have plenty of other things to commemorate. The Cataldo Mission would be a good choice, as it is Idaho’s oldest standing building. I have no problem with putting the license plate motto on the quarter ( **Famous Potatoes** ). However, we are much more than spuds. This seems to be as good a place as any to relate the following: A friend of mine from college got his doctor’s degree in history from the University of Idaho. After graduation he moved to Arkansas and taught Freshmen History classes at a college there. His bonus question on the final exam was this: North of the river, they don’t grow spuds. Name the state. Name the river. Answers: Idaho. Salmon River. He once told me that fewer than 10% of his students got the correct answers. ---
**Author:** ![GrizzRich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7ba0ec/32.png) [@GrizzRich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrizzRich)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2005, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/better-state-quarter-designs/303399/24 "2005-05-12T05:30:33Z")
I’m kinda bummed that DC isn’t getting a quarter design. I’m sure they’d be pushing for “Taxation Without Representation”, like they have on their [license plates](http://www.dcvote.org/involved/plates.cfm) That North Carolina and Ohio BOTH have a depiction of the Wright Flyer is just wrong. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2005, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/better-state-quarter-designs/303399/25 "2005-05-12T06:23:12Z")
August West: > [@](#): > > That should have been on Wisconsin’s quarter, since Oscar Meyer is based here. Good point. I guess I just associated it with Michigan because it’s currently in the Ford Museum in Dearborn. pasunegen: > [@](#): > > 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. I think Fort McHenry with a large American flag would have been nice. GrizzRich: > [@](#): > > That North Carolina and Ohio BOTH have a depiction of the Wright Flyer is just wrong. I disagree. It was designed in Ohio, even though the actual test flights were in North Carolina. Both have a right to take pride in it. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2005, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/better-state-quarter-designs/303399/26 "2005-05-12T06:34:06Z")
I’m a huge fan of this [proposed design for New Mexico](http://www.quarterdesigns.com/proposed/newmexico/nmquarter.jpg). We could call them _nukies_! ---
**Author:** ![flodnak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/838e76/32.png) [@flodnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flodnak)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2005, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/better-state-quarter-designs/303399/27 "2005-05-12T06:36:38Z")
For my home state of Pennsylvania, I have to say I like the “Penn’s Woods” design a lot better than the one that was eventually chosen. It depicts the founding of the colony, it works the Keystone into the design nicely, framing the clasped hands, and it includes the state outline but in a more subtle way than most. The one eventually chosen is just the first in what promises to be a long long line of outline-figure-motto quarters. And I daresay even most Pennsylvanians wouldn’t recognize the “Commonwealth” statue or know the symbolism - why should anyone else? ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2005, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/better-state-quarter-designs/303399/28 "2005-05-12T16:16:08Z")
> [@betenoir](#): > > And how pathetic is that? Best we could come up with and it falls apart a couple months later. Maybe we could have someone driving without a seatbelt (Live free…OR DIE). Or maybe a little picture of someone from Massachusetts buying beer and cigarettes and not paying sales tax. I have a question that none of my other New Hampshire friends have been able to answer. Was The Old Man of the Mountain the ONLY thing in the entire state that was memorable? You had it on your quarter, your license plates, and state highway markers. Couldn’t you find something else cool or interesting in all of New Hampshire? ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2005, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/better-state-quarter-designs/303399/29 "2005-05-12T16:20:39Z")
That should be Mike Ditka on the Illinois quarter, not Lincoln. ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2005, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/better-state-quarter-designs/303399/30 "2005-05-12T16:49:08Z")
> [@iamthewalrus(:3=](#): > > I’m a huge fan of this [proposed design for New Mexico](http://www.quarterdesigns.com/proposed/newmexico/nmquarter.jpg). Why don’t they just “Birthplace of the Butt Plug” on it? ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2005, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/better-state-quarter-designs/303399/31 "2005-05-12T16:59:04Z")
I thought that the Alabama quarter should either have been Rosa Parks’s bus riding over George Wallace’s wheelchair or something equally progressive. While I’m a huge admirer of Helen Keller (not just for _The Miracle Worker_ stuff), she only spent the first few years of her very long life here (she came back for visits but NJ, CN and NY all have as much a claim to her as AL does); it would have made more sense to honor Hank Williams, George Washington Carver, Homer Hickam or others whose main contributions were while residing in AL, though personally I’d have gone with a rocket on an Indian mound, or a beach and mountain together for the state’s geographical and biodiversity. (OTOH, I’m just happy it didn’t have the Ten Commandments or Bull Connor.) ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2005, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/better-state-quarter-designs/303399/32 "2005-05-12T17:09:29Z")
> [@cmkeller](#): > > That’s not the Hudson River, it’s the Erie Canal. I think you’ll find it’s both. The Erie Canal goes from Lake Erie to Albany, or thereabouts, and the waterway running south from Albany to NYC is the Hudson River. ---
**Author:** ![Tracy\_Lord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@Tracy\_Lord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tracy_Lord)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2005, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/better-state-quarter-designs/303399/33 "2005-05-12T21:38:25Z")
Oregon’s is pretty, but I remember last year they were tossing around the idea of putting Homer Simpson on it. That would have been _hella_ awesome. I like all of the Oregon designs, actually. None of that lame state-outline crap. Just a “hey, look at us! Our natural beauty can beat up your natural beauty!” 😛 ---
**Author:** ![AThingWithFeathers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@AThingWithFeathers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AThingWithFeathers)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2005, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/better-state-quarter-designs/303399/34 "2005-05-12T21:52:27Z")
> [@Hal Briston](#): > > I dunno…when I think “Wyoming”, I generally don’t think “bears with gaping shotgun wounds to the chest getting tazered multiple times”. Yes, but it’s the thought that counts. :rolleyes: And I only see one shot wound. Maybe s/he’s all about animal awareness issues, hmm? ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2005, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/better-state-quarter-designs/303399/35 "2005-05-12T22:19:45Z")
From last week’s **The Onion** : [U.S. Mint Gears Up to Issue Commemorative County Pennies](http://theonion.com/news/index.php?issue=4118&n=3) ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2005, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/better-state-quarter-designs/303399/36 "2005-05-12T22:27:33Z")
Sadly, Florida’s quarters would probably each have a different “Have you seen this child?” picture on it. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2005, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/better-state-quarter-designs/303399/37 "2005-05-13T00:36:40Z")
> [@ShibbOleth](#): > > Sadly, Florida’s quarters would probably each have a different “Have you seen this child?” picture on it. Wow. I have emerged from what may well be the community’s longest state of lurkdom to offer my suggestion that Florida’s quarter should feature a grinning pedophile, and here, ShibbOleth beats me to it (sort of). I’ll get you next time, Gadget! ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2005, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/better-state-quarter-designs/303399/38 "2005-05-13T00:47:06Z")
[This page](http://www.nbc.com/nbc/Late_Night_with_Conan_O'Brien/oddsnends/index.shtml) has a link you can click on to see some of Conan O’Brien’s state quarter designs. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2005, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/better-state-quarter-designs/303399/39 "2005-05-13T00:49:41Z")
I actually submitted a design for the Ohio quarter. Like almost everyone else’s, my design also featured the moon landing and the Wright Brothers’ plane, since that’s about all this state has going for it. But my design “takes place” on the surface of the moon. Way off to the side, Armstrong is just stepping down onto the surface, while the Wright Brothers’ plane is zooming in from the distance, right at you. I think I was the only artist who made the moon landing and the plane part of the same “reality.” Apparently more anachronistic than they had in mind. And I hate the design they finally came up with. Not sour grapes on my part, it really is an amateurish design. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2005, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/better-state-quarter-designs/303399/40 "2005-05-13T05:15:29Z")
Well, [California had some interesting ones.](http://www.quarterdesigns.com/proposed/californ.html) A couple with the Golden Gate Bridge. I liked 'em, but I can see how the rest of the state might not. (Even the versions with palm trees and the Hollywood sign in the background) The ones I REALLY liked had a [sun setting](http://www.quarterdesigns.com/proposed/californ/coin11_lg.gif) over [the ocean.](http://www.quarterdesigns.com/proposed/californ/waves_b.gif) Simple, elegant, classy, and original. What’d we end up with? [, apparently being attacked by a bird. Well, either it looks like he’s overlooking Yosemite, or he’s 3000 feet tall and being attacked by Rodan, or he’s peaking over some boulders. Jeez, even a “bear flag” design wouldn’t do? _sigh_ I guess we’re just lucky it didn’t end up being [url=http://www.quarterdesigns.com/proposed/californ/sequoia\_a.gif]a tree]([http://www.quarterdesigns.com/proposed/californ/cali\_800.htmlJohn](http://www.quarterdesigns.com/proposed/californ/cali_800.htmlJohn) Muir overlooking Yosemite[/url), or a bunch of old hippies protesting. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/better-state-quarter-designs/303399.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/better-state-quarter-designs/303399.md?page=3)