As a long-time lurker, I’m taking the advise of Exgineer and starting my first thread.
For those of you who live in states where the quarter has been issued for that state: Do you like the design?
If your state has not been issued yet: What would you like to see on it? Conversely, what don’t you want to see?
I live in Idaho. I do not want to see a potato. I have no problem if our state motto–Famous Potatoes --is on it, though.
I think that the Cataldo Mission would be a worthy subject. It is Idaho’s oldest standing building.
Thanks for all responses.
As a fellow Idahoan, I agree that we need to give the potato a rest and promote the other fine qualities of our state. I agree that the Cataldo Mission would make a nice image to stamp on the Idaho quarter. Either that, or a rendering of the Sawtooth Mountains would look good on our quarter when it is finally released (2007, I think, we rank 43rd in order of statehood). An outline of the state with a gem superimposed on it (we are the Gem state, after all) would look good, too. Maybe a rendering of some people rafting down a river.
Lived in Massachusetts until last year: It’s the Minuteman statue, which is cool, superimposed over the crinkly outline of the state, which is–well, it doesn’t really say much about anything. “Our State is shaped funny and we’re square on one end and got about 12,000 miles of coastline on the other!” Hokay.
NY has the Statue of Liberty, again fine if sort of cliched, superimposed over the somewhat less crinkly outline of the state, with Long Island sticking out like Liberty’s footrest or something. The words “Gateway to Freedom” are also there above what I just noticed is the Erie Canal (I think). OK, but too subtle. Although having a mule (and her name is Sal) and her boat under the statue might be considered disrespectful somehow, and if you put Niagara Falls there people might think the Statue is going to fall over them.
Great, now I’m earwormed. “Git up thar, mule, here comes a lock, we’ll make Rome 'bout six o’clock…”
“And you betcha life I’ll never part with Sal…”
The more I think about it the more I think the quarter should say “Gateway to America” or “the West” or something. I mean, the Canal opened up the western frontier a lot, and it’s not like there’s no freedom in NY so you have to go West to find it.
I like the pastoral grace of Vermont’s and Tennesee’s quarters. Louisiana’s with the pelican, Rhode Island’s with the boat, they’re cool. New Hampshire with the Old Man of the Mountain and Georgia with that stupid peach are my least favorites.
“…if you’ve ever navigated on the Erie Canal!” Oy!
Loved so many, especially the astronaut.
MAD at my state: Not one but TWO magnolias. Gimme a break !! so many other things could have been on there; Eyullllvus for one ! Grrrrrrrrrrr
As a Tennessee resident…I don’t see the appeal in ours. I don’t know what I would rather have seen though (only country music…no, the Vols? Nope)
As a former Georgia resident, I agree that the peach is lame. The Vidalia onion would have been better. 
As a former Mississippi resident, I really like the magnolias. But my favorite quarter so far is the Rhode Island one with the boats. I also think the Maine one will be neat looking, while the Alabama one with Helen Keller will be interesting.
The Texas quarter is scheduled to be released in 2004. I will warn you now, if the preferred design is accepted by the U.S. Mint, ours will officially be the most boring state quarter yet.
Actually, Lsura, I kind of like our quarter, basically because our state is so sports-crazy. You can’t drive anywhere in the fall without seeing those stoooopid orange car window flags on half the cars on the road, no matter how far you are from Knoxville. It was nice to see something, ahh, more constructive.
Disclaimer: The above was written by a musician at the University of Tennessee at Martin, whose football team is crap because all the funding and good players go to Knoxville…but I’m not bitter or anything.
As a New Hampshire resident, I disagree with Mehitabel - I kind of like the “Old Man of the Mountain” motif on the quarter. It brings home the whole rugged, mountainous, granite rocky thing the state has going for it.
Oh, barf. As a former Texan, I’m tearing my hair out. They could do a lot better. How about the San Jacinto Monument? Sam Houston? The Alamo? Mt. Guadalupe? The oldest mission? There are so many choices… choosing such a bland design is just wrong.
New Yorker here. I loathe our quarter, for the simple reason that it’s nothing but the Massachusetts quarter design with only the particulars changed. We should have been able to come up with something better.
I really wish we had gone with the NY skyline design, which was one of the five original finalists. It might have pissed off some upstaters, but darn it, no other state in the US contains a skyline that distinctive, and with 20-20 hindsight, I can say it would have been nice to see the World Trade Center as part of it.
My favorite quarter is probably the Vermont and Kentucky ones. Captures the essence of the state (or at least what I know of them), and the design is not overly messy (like the Ohio one, for example).
I think that Missouri’s is pretty nice. Although I do wish that it said “The Show Me State”. haha
I liked the Georgia Peach quarter. I though it was really cute! I also really like Tennesse’s quarter!
The PA quarter is pretty dull, actually. It’s basically an outline of our state. It would have been nice if they could have used the Liberty Bell, the Titusville Oil Well , a chunk of Anthracite coal , a relief of the Appalacians, a bigger Keystone,…hell, Punxatawney Phil would have been nice. Something to catch and hold our attention. I know it’s just a quarter and all, but to some people, it’s affordable art.
I moved to Knoxville last August from Georgia. While I was a previous resident of the Chattanooga and Nashville areas…I was horrified by the amount of orange around town. My local grocery store is decorated in orange. shudder.
I should have made it clear that I in no way endorsed the idea of the vols on the quarter, and I might never have come back if it had ended up on there. This despite the fact that I am currently wearing a (grey) Tennessee Vols sweatshirt - I only have it because it was on sale at the bookstore for $12.50 and my undergrad sweatshirt from a non-TN school is falling apart.
I’d also like to hear about what people think about the quarters in general.
Since I have some RHODE ISLAND roots, I’ll offer my thoughts on our quarter, which features a sailboat underneath the Newport bridge. While I hear that our quarter has been nominated for some world coin award (the only one from the US I believe), I must say that I am disappointed in the decision. Rhode Island is a gritty, working class, fisherman’s state which is not adaquately represented by the bourgeois scene of a rich man’s yacht sailing our beautiful bay. I suppose this is the image that Rhode Island would prefer to convey. I would have loved to see a fishing boat at Point Judith, or better yet, the QUAHOG - our state shellfish. That would have been eye-catching, quirky, unique - and a better representative of our state.
I am glad, however, that RI didn’t follow the model of some other states, who could only come up with a hodgepodge collage of various tourist images in order to satisfy all political interests.
PS. Connecticut’s tree is beautiful…IMHO
I thought all of the California options were terrible. Oh well, we’ve got another couple years before whatever they pick goes into circulation anyway.
Here in Michigan, they’ve got it narrowed done quite a bit. It’s plain, but I like the top one, with just the outline of the state and the Great Lakes. The others seem either busy or stupid.
The one on the top right should win. 
Ha! Yeah, that would kick ass!
All that needs to be said about state quarters has been said here:
http://www.brunching.com/quarters4.html
and herehttp://www.brunching.com/quarters3.html
and, well, I’m sure you’ve caught on.
Oh crap, I didn’t catch on. :smack: The remainder are at:
http://www.brunching.com/morequarters.html