The United States “America the Beautiful Quarters” series. You know it, you love it. Wait — you don’t know it? But you probably still love it. Well, it’s the follow-up to the original “State Quarters” series from the good old U.S. of A. since 1999, an issue of 5 state coins per year through 2008. That adds us to 50 states, do the math, and they’re still in your pocket or purse.
I got to thinking about this when I noticed an Arches National Park quarter, straight outta Utah. Well, not Utah, because the U.S. Mint cities are Denver, San Francisco and Philadelphia (D, S and P to coin geeks who know what I’m sayin’.) But I have been to Utah’s Arches, climbing and crawling all over the red-rock majesty, so seeing it lovely depicted in metal was a real trip.
Anyway, this led me down the rabbit hole of considering U.S. coinage, and believe me, as the Clash said in another context, “it weighs fifteen-hundred tons.” Consider this from the United States Mint, offering one of the new “America the Beautiful” coin sets, featuring Acadia National Park (another one of my favorites): “Collect or share the 3-coin set of Maine’s 2012 Acadia National Park Quarters – one each from the Denver, San Francisco and Philadelphia Mints.” For just $9.95 you can get 75 cents, proof-perfect and perfectly packaged! Talk about cashing in your coins! But seriously — if we fought the war on terrorism by getting those infidels hooked on the U.S. Mint website (see links at the bottom) we’d win that war quick. Between the volume of time and money you can spend and learn, it’s practically a whole lifetime. Shiny and American.
I’m not going to belabor the history behind each State quarter’s imagery here; it’s all on the Mint site. I’m just going to give my 2 cents on my favorite 6 State quarters, based on artistry and geographic bias. I’m sure I’m going to later address my least favorite 6, and then 6 that are just something else. Once again, it’s a rabbit hole. In our American democratic tradition, feel free to dissent from my opinions. It won’t cost you a dime.
3 C’s — cows, corn and cheese, plus the state motto, “Forward”. No image of the state, no apologies. Although, “Forward” to where? But the bottom line is, “We’re cheeseheads and proudly semi-hicks, whether you like it or not.” But if you want to escape the cows and corn, you can go to the capital city, Madison. Or Green Bay? The cheese — you’ll never escape that.
Following Wisconsin, more no-apologies imagery. Bare, empty mountain terrain and a cow skull (maybe this is where the Wisconsin cow went “forward” to?) And “Big Sky Country” largely because there’s nothing there to block the sky. In a good way.
Unlike those above, the Illinois state quarter gets a lot done, Chicago style. Young Lincoln and “Land of Lincoln”. The state outline. Landscape silhouettes showing rural history and skyscraper present. 21 stars, for the 21st state. And finally, and weirdly, “21st State Century”, which maybe means “21st Century State”? Like Chicago, this coin is busy, but it works.
Back to the basics, and even more so. New Hampshire is the “Live Free or Die” state and they exercise the freedom to just show a face of granite. Forget whatever else they do in their state, it’s none of your business. They’ve got hard rock mountains, that’s all you need to know.
Hawaii nails their quarter with simple majesty. Literally majesty, since the image is of the statue of Kamehameh I, who established The Kingdom of Hawaii. The native Hawaiian motto translates as “The life of the land is perpetuated in righteousness”, and the image of the chain of islands is pretty righteous. (See a photo of the statue at bottom of this post.)
Arizona’s quarter falls in the same category as Montana’s — but instead of a looming skull it has a bright sun beaming over the Grand Canyon. So it captures the lonesome West, but not in a downer way. With nostalgiac postcard-style artistic balance.
Here are some United States Mint links — there really is a lot to enjoy on the site:
http://www.usmint.gov/kids/coinNews/coinOfTheMonth/2003/04.cfm
http://www.usmint.gov/about_the_mint/collectors_corner/?action=mint_marks
http://www.usmint.gov/education/?action=learn
http://www.usmint.gov/kids/teachers/coinCurricula/25centCoin.cfm
those6things 