# The best state quarter design ever, rejected... **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 22, 2007, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-state-quarter-design-ever-rejected/401203 "2007-04-22T20:32:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Absolute](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b2d939/32.png) [@Absolute](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Absolute)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2007, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-state-quarter-design-ever-rejected/401203/1 "2007-04-22T20:32:37Z")
[This](http://quarterdesigns.com/proposed/newmexico/nmquarter.jpg) has got to be the coolest state quarter design ever. It would upstage all those other crappy, unimaginative little states, with their trees, birds, banjos and anthropomorphic rock formations. But, someone wimped out, and instead, New Mexico is going to go with one of these bland, boring designs. [http://quarterdesigns.com/proposed/nmexico.html](http://quarterdesigns.com/proposed/nmexico.html) What a shame…it could’ve been so cool. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![NinjaChick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@NinjaChick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinjaChick)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2007, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-state-quarter-design-ever-rejected/401203/2 "2007-04-22T20:54:35Z")
Man, I’m not sure if I, as an adopted New Mexican, am overwhelmingly relieved or overwhelmingly distressed that they’re taking the boring route. On the one hand, it would be awesome to pay for my laundry with nuclear explosions. On the other hand, I’m not entirely certain that’s what we as a state should be most proud of… ---
**Author:** ![SmartAleq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smartaleq/32/163_2.png) [@SmartAleq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAleq)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2007, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-state-quarter-design-ever-rejected/401203/3 "2007-04-22T22:00:22Z")
Y’know, I say New Mexico should just rock it with the nuke quarter. It has a certain insouciance, a sort of je ne sais quoi, a modicum of “we got nuked and SURVIVED it, what you got, hmmm bitches?” that would be a fabulous mission statement for the whole place. Of course, this is why it will never happen. People are boring. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2007, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-state-quarter-design-ever-rejected/401203/4 "2007-04-22T22:53:39Z")
I think the best state quarter so far is Georgia, with the leaf sticking out of the butt. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2007, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-state-quarter-design-ever-rejected/401203/5 "2007-04-22T23:07:34Z")
[QUOTE=Shirley Ujest] I think the best state quarter so far is Georgia, with the leaf sticking out of the butt. [/QUOTE] link? ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2007, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-state-quarter-design-ever-rejected/401203/6 "2007-04-22T23:30:48Z")
[QUOTE=Absolute] But, someone wimped out, and instead, New Mexico is going to go with one of these bland, boring designs. [http://quarterdesigns.com/proposed/nmexico.html](http://quarterdesigns.com/proposed/nmexico.html) What a shame…it could’ve been so cool. 🙂 [/QUOTE] Having tossed the bomb, the _least_ they could do is mint a picture of the [VLA](http://www.vla.nrao.edu/). There are so many cool things in New Mexico, and they go with a reprint of 1970’s vintage DMV phamphlet? The Dummies! ---
**Author:** ![racer72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/racer72/32/3075_2.png) [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2007, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-state-quarter-design-ever-rejected/401203/7 "2007-04-23T00:09:42Z")
[QUOTE=Shirley Ujest] I think the best state quarter so far is Georgia, with the leaf sticking out of the butt. [/QUOTE] [Whatchtalkingbout Willis?](http://www.quarterdesigns.com/winners/ga_winner.html) ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2007, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-state-quarter-design-ever-rejected/401203/8 "2007-04-23T00:14:56Z")
At the risk of sounding snobbish, I’ve been thoroughly disgusted by the selection process for new coin art for years, now. People just don’t want to change things from the norm, too much, nor take too many risks. When the Sacajewa designs were going around, one of the proposed designs was for a full body shot of her, standing, looking back over her shoulder at the viewer. With the outfit she was wearing the design was, I thought, wonderfully evocative of one of the [most famous](http://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/numismatics/moneyintrans/graphics/nnc1933orb.jpg) US coin designs ever. Instead we got another dead person’s face. Expect the boring from the mint, especially now that they’re encouraging the public to vote on designs. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Greg\_Charles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@Greg\_Charles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greg_Charles)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2007, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-state-quarter-design-ever-rejected/401203/9 "2007-04-23T00:34:42Z")
[QUOTE=racer72] [Whatchtalkingbout Willis?](http://www.quarterdesigns.com/winners/ga_winner.html) [/QUOTE] I agree. It seems to be more sticking up out of her lower back. Still, it’s a nice view. That Miss Georgia is a real peach! ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2007, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-state-quarter-design-ever-rejected/401203/10 "2007-04-23T01:01:09Z")
The Mint ones actually seem like they would look pretty cool on a quarter. As for the atom bomb one, I can see what Mr. Kornreich was _trying_ to do, but the result looks more like an evil cartoon tree with too many ears and little T-Rex hands, commanding his palm army from the back. And that’s four different kinds of un-American by my count. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2007, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-state-quarter-design-ever-rejected/401203/11 "2007-04-23T01:45:11Z")
As much as I would like to have endorsed the atom bomb quarter, it just doesn’t look that great. It makes New Mexico look like the birthplace of cauliflower. ---
**Author:** ![SmartAleq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smartaleq/32/163_2.png) [@SmartAleq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAleq)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2007, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-state-quarter-design-ever-rejected/401203/12 "2007-04-23T02:04:56Z")
Oh pshaw! Objecting to the nukie just because of the artwork is like saying they shouldn’t have put a peach on the Georgia quarter just because it looks like a very shapely set of buttocks–that’s just crazytalk! ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2007, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-state-quarter-design-ever-rejected/401203/13 "2007-04-23T03:02:09Z")
At least they decided against the plan to go with the Hopi symbol for tribal migration/four directions pictured [here](http://www.mysteriousworld.com/Content/Images/Journal/2003/Summer/Giants/Swastika-MissionBasket.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![postcards](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8e8cbc/32.png) [@postcards](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/postcards)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2007, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-state-quarter-design-ever-rejected/401203/14 "2007-04-23T03:09:35Z")
[QUOTE=Snooooopy] As much as I would like to have endorsed the atom bomb quarter, it just doesn’t look that great. It makes New Mexico look like the birthplace of cauliflower. [/QUOTE] [Connecticut](http://www.quarterdesigns.com/winners/ct_winner.html) seems to be the birthplace of the cauliflower. ---
**Author:** ![Gentle\_Robot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e495f1/32.png) [@Gentle\_Robot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gentle_Robot)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2007, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-state-quarter-design-ever-rejected/401203/15 "2007-04-23T03:38:08Z")
Come on. That mushroom cloud looks like like a wilting mushroom, a tree, or a molten pile of shit. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2007, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-state-quarter-design-ever-rejected/401203/16 "2007-04-23T07:39:26Z")
I was going to say, “Why not Camel Rock?” but then I remembered that the Old Man on the Mountain crumbled away, the year after he appeared on the New Hampshire quarter. The state outline and symbol is beyond lame, though. Perhaps the lamest state quarter design yet. That’s what I did in _first grade_ when I had to fill in a map of the USA. I’m getting ticked off, actually, that a state with such natural beauty doesn’t get to impress as it could. And instead of “Land of Enchantment”, how about “YES, WE ARE A STATE!”? ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2007, 10:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-state-quarter-design-ever-rejected/401203/17 "2007-04-23T10:53:32Z")
How about “Now with radio stations in English! But only a couple.”? ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2007, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-state-quarter-design-ever-rejected/401203/18 "2007-04-23T16:13:28Z")
[QUOTE=Rilchiam] The state outline and symbol is beyond lame, though. Perhaps the lamest state quarter design yet. [/QUOTE] Bay, how are they going to decide among that diverse bunch of options? _Should we go with the state outline and Indian cross-symbol, or should we go with the state outline and Indian cross-symbol? Then again, maybe we should…_ ---
**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:** [April 23, 2007, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-state-quarter-design-ever-rejected/401203/19 "2007-04-23T16:25:19Z")
Yeah, I hate the New Mexico design. How did it get this unimaginative? Isn’t New Mexico home to a famous artist’s community? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2007, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-state-quarter-design-ever-rejected/401203/20 "2007-04-23T16:47:10Z")
I feel your pain. One of the proposed designs for Montana was a T. rex. That would have been great: I mean, what’s cooler than a tyrannosaur? Well, a tyrannosaur in an F-14, of course, but other than that. Plus, it’s distinctive: Almost all of the T. rex remains found have been in Montana, so it, as a symbol, unambiguously represents the state. So what did we get instead? A steer skull. Because of course, no other state in the Union has dead cows. At least we did better than Kansas and North Dakota, though. They _both_ got bison. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-state-quarter-design-ever-rejected/401203.md?page=2)