This line, from Ann Althouse’s evisceration of the abominable Wisconsin "Forward" state quarter, made me laugh. Which probably means there is something wrong with me.
You should note that the dairy product does not come out of the cow’s head. The important aspect of the cow is not its head.
Ann offers some design criteria (along with general advice that art should not be democratic) - use a single iconic image and keep words to a minimum. I agree that the Wisconsin quarter is bad, mostly because I still don’t know what "Forward" as a motto is intended to mean. I don’t share her love for the Connecticut quarter, however. The leafless oak tree just seems depressing. Reading the description of the Charter Oak makes it more interesting, but when I think of Connecticut, I don’t think of oak trees, which takes away from the iconography of the icon. I think of Jim Calhoun, which isn’t a good icon either.
The U.S. Mint has the thirty released quarter designs on two pages - the "Designs" page currently only includes the 1999-2003 releases. The five 2004 designs are on the main 50 State Quarters page. I like the North Carolina design (featuring the Wright Flyer) the best. Mississippi and Arkansas are each as bad as Wisconsin. Arkansas’ is even more densely packed with symbols than Wisconsin’s cow head-cheese block-corn troika.
My five year old has been fascinated by the states for some time (favorite state: MIssissippi). We have several books, including the entertaining The Scrambled States of America. Also The Scrambled States of America Geography Game . Plus the thirty quarters released so far. And now I have to add the Crayola State Your Color 64 Box of Crayons (Kentucky’s color: Fort Knox Gold).
