Rodney was chosen to represent Delaware - the first state admitted to the union - in the U.S. Mint's program to commemorate the 50 states on 50 quarters. He was a member of the Continental Congress who, in spite of asthma and cancer, rode 80 miles through thunderstorms and a heat wave to Philadelphia to cast the deciding vote for independence.
The program - which ends next month with the 50th quarter, Hawaii - has been "the most popular coin program in history," a Mint spokesman told USA Today last week.
An estimated 147 million coin collectors have been seeking the quarters, the newspaper reported, earning the Mint about $3.5 billion in profit by the end of 2007.
Many of the collectors are children, for whom the quarters are a great educational program. My boys have learned about U.S. geography, some natural landmarks and a smattering of history from collecting the quarters and mounting them on a large cardboard map.
The program has also driven me and my wife to inspect our pockets regularly for missing states to complete the set. (If anybody working at or near The Gateway has a spare South Carolina quarter, please contact me; it's the only one my older son is missing.)
As a cultural artifact, though, the quarters represent a lost opportunity to tell the story of America's 50 states. Chalk it up to the process of selecting each state's design.
The Mint's criteria suggested that "suitable subject matter for designs include state landmarks (natural and man-made), landscapes, historically significant buildings, symbols of state resources or industries, official state flora and fauna, state icons (e.g., Texas Lone Star, Wyoming bronco, etc.), and outlines of the state." The Mint also said that anything controversial "or symbols that are likely to offend" were out.
As a result, boredom and design-by-committee reign on several states' quarters:
» Texas and New Mexico each feature a map, the state's nickname, and the symbol that appears on the state flag.
» Georgia, New York and Wyoming repeat the icon from those states' license plates - respectively, a peach, the Statue of Liberty and the outline of a cowboy on a bucking bronco.
» Wisconsin turned its quarter into an ad for cheese.
» Michigan, the state that gave us both Motown and the Ford Mustang, gives us - yawn - a map of the Great Lakes.
» Illinois throws up a slogan, "21st State, 21st Century," that sounds like a Chamber of Commerce brochure.
Some states, however, really stepped up with some sharp designs. Connecticut immortalized the Charter Oak. Tennessee paid tribute to its rich musical heritage - blues, country and Elvis - while Indiana devoted its space to its contribution to American culture, the Indianapolis 500. Heroes such as Caesar Rodney (Delaware), Helen Keller (Alabama) and John Muir (California) got their moment in the sun.
And at the risk of sounding like a homer, Utah produced an elegant design with its depiction of the Golden Spike and the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad. Given the options - a beehive and a snowboarder were considered - we came out looking great.
vulture@sltrib.com.
