The Commission of Fine Arts reviewed and recommended designs for the 2002 quarter dollars for Tennessee, Ohio, Louisiana, Indiana and Mississippi during its April 19 meeting. However, the commission also considered written input from those proposing the Ohio designs who believed the U.S. Mint took artistic license in unilaterally altering the designs with added devices or historically inaccurate images.
In some instances, the Commission of Fine Arts concurred with the selections favored by the governors of the respective states, but not in all cases.
The commission also concurred with designs favored by the Association of Graduates for the 2002 West Point Bicentennial silver dollar.
The Commission of Fine Arts is congressionally mandated to review all coin designs, but its role is of an advisory nature only.
The designs for the State quarter dollars are expected to move on to the secretary of the treasury for review, with any designs then returned to the respective states for final approval by the governors or their designate(s).
All of the designs were reviewed by the Citizens Commemorative Coin Advisory Committee at its March 8 meeting, but not forwarded to the Commission of Fine Arts until the Mint's engraving staff made modifications requested by the CCCAC.
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MUSICAL THEMES appear on two of Tennessee's quarter designs, with the state's role in permitting women to vote, bottom left, and Sequoyah, who created a written language, bottom right, reflected on the two other design finalists.
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Tennessee Gov. Don Sundquist favored designs reminiscent of the state's rich musical heritage, of which two were rendered by Mint engravers. Sundquist had expressed his preference for Design 1, which shows a guitar and violin superimposed over a musical score with a trumpet above and a ribbon below inscribed MUSICAL LEGACY/BLUES, COUNTRY & TRADITIONAL.
Design 2, favored by the Commission of Fine Arts as not being as cluttered as Design 1, incorporates the guitar, violin and trumpet in different positions superimposed over three five-pointed stars, with MUSICAL HERITAGE in a ribbon below. Commission Historian Sue Kohler said members believed the design was crowded with the inclusion of the musical score, which would be illegible once the design was reduced to coin size.
The commission rejected Design 3, symbolic of Tennessee's ratification of the 19th amendment to the U.S. by showing three women at the voting polls, and Design 4, depicting Cherokee Chief Sequoyah with Cherokee language symbols in the background.
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AMONG THE themes on Ohio's design are aviation and inventions, as well as the state bird, the cardinal.
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Ohio Gov. Robert Taft's designate for the Ohio quarter dollar - the Ohio Quarter Committee, a subcommittee of the Ohio Bicentennial Commission - has not formally endorsed any of the four designs rendered by Mint engravers, but its members were peeved the Mint unilaterally modified the designs without notifying the committee.
Design 1, favored by the Commission of Fine Arts, incorporated the 1905 Wright Brothers aircraft and an astronaut over a state outline under the concept "Birthplace of Aviation" to honor the Ohio-based development of the first aircraft and the state's significant space exploration accomplishments. The CCCAC believed the "Birthplace of Aviation" inscription could be historically misconstrued and the phrasing was removed.
The Ohio Quarter Committee was also angry at the inclusion of 17 stars, which weren't part of the design originally rendered.
Design 2, under the theme heroes of aviation, incorporates a Wright Flyer, an astronaut and a space capsule. This design is completely different than a previous design for the theme, which included Neil Armstrong's landing on the moon and planting of the American flag instead of just an astronaut.
Design 3 shows the Ohio state bird, the cardinal, perched on a leafy branch with buckeyes over the state outline with inscription buckeye state.
Design 4 incorporates the Wright Flyer and Thomas Edison's light bulb under the theme spirit of invention with a state outline and stars added around the border, which were absent from the original design. The Ohio Quarter Committee members suggested that the light bulb and Flyer contained design inaccuracies.
Kohler said the commission felt that regardless of where the Wright Brothers plane was made, the general public associates flight with North Carolina, whose quarter dollar already has a rendition of the Wright Brothers' first plane, but if Ohio preferred the aviation and space theme, Design 1 would be the commission's choice. She said the stars could be removed from this design or any of the remaining three designs that also have stars added.
"If the people from Ohio don't want stars, I don't see why they have to be there," she said.
Kohler said most people also associate Edison with Menlo Park, N.J., where he spent much of his life. Edison was born in Milan, Ohio.
The Commission of Fine Arts, Kohler said, also liked Design 3, and one commission member suggested selecting it to eliminate controversy over the other designs.
The commission rejected Design 4.
The Ohio Quarter Committee was expected to request that the Mint have a representative at its May 1 session in Columbus to help rectify the OQC's concerns.
It was expected Mint officials would meet with Ohio representatives to rectify the conflicts.
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PELICANS appear on all of the quarter designs from Louisiana.
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The Commission of Fine Arts concurred with Louisiana Gov. Mike Foster's preference for Design 1, depicting a pelican facing right roosting on a pier piling and a paddlewheel riverboat traveling west over the an outline of the state. Kohler said Foster was strong in his conviction that any design given final approval incorporate a pelican. Three of the four designs sketched by Mint engravers include renderings of pelicans.
While the CCCAC had recommended the riverboat face east to reveal the paddlewheel, the decision was made to honor the governor's request. The Mint modified the design at the CCCAC's request to have the pelican's beak angled away from the riverboat.
Kohler said Design 2 with a riverboat filling the field with a pelican in flight would work as well as Design 4, with a pelican in flight over an outline of Louisiana inscribed the bayou state. Kohler said the commission nixed Design 3 showing a pelican and map of the United States with the boundaries of the Louisiana Purchased defined.
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INDIANA'S HISTORICAL HERITAGE and sports themes dominate that state's designs submitted to the Mint, which were reviewed by the Commission of Fine Arts April 19. Commission members did not like the designs reflecting sports themes.
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Indiana's governor, Frank O'Bannon, preferred among four design sketches Design 3, featuring an Indianapolis 500 racecar and a basketball player over an outline of the state with 19 stars.
The Commission of Fine Arts members, however, according to Kohler, weren't enamored with an all-sports theme, instead preferring Design 2, one of two featuring Chief Little Turtle, who shunned European influences until his defeat at the Battle of Little Timbers and signing of the Treaty of Greenville. He was the last to sign the treaty.
Chief Little Turtle was the War Chief of the Miami Nation. He led the Native American military force that defeated General Arthur St. Clair at Fort Recovery on Nov. 3, 1791.
Design 2 features a full-length portrait of Little Turtle, with an outline of the state of Indiana and a star marking the capital at Indianapolis. Nine stars appear to the left, and nine to the right, which, when including the star for the capital, signify Indiana as the 19th state.
Kohler said the commission also liked Design 1, featuring the same details as Design 2, except the 18 flanking stars are substituted with swaying trees.
Design 3, the governor's choice, was considered suitable, but Design 4, showing just an Indy racer, an Indiana map and a circle of stars, was rejected.
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STATE flora and fauna appear on Mississippi's coin designs.
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The commission reviewed three designs for Mississippi, all three incorporating the state flower, the magnolia, and two of them including the state bird, the mockingbird. Kohler said the commission favored Design 1 featured enlarged magnolia blossoms, with inscription, THE MAGNOLIA STATE. It was suggested the scale of the blossoms and leaves be reduced.
Kohler said running a distant second was Design 2, showing a mockingbird with wings outstretched, perched on a branch of magnolia blossoms.
Design 3, showing another rendition of a mockingbird on a magnolia branch with an outline of the state, was rejected.
It is believed the designs for Mississippi were generated by Mint engravers, without the office of Mississippi Gov. Ronnie Musgrove offering any input.
The recommended obverse for the 2002 West Point Bicentennial silver dollar and favored by the organization to receive the coin sale surcharges, the Association of Graduates, depicts a five-member cadet color guard in full parade dress marching across the parade compound at the West Point Military Academy in New York.
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ALSO REVIEWED were designs for the 2002 commemorative silver dollar honoring the bicentennial of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y. Shown here are the recommended obverse and reverse designs. The obverse shows a color guard, with the reverse depicting a portion of the academy's logo.
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The surcharges from the sale of up to 500,000 dollars are to be used in the training and education of the Corps of Cadets.
Structures on the military reservation can be seen prominently in the background of the first obverse design.
The Commission of Fine Arts rejected a second proposed obverse showing a three-man color guard marching right rendered from a different vantage.
Kohler said commission members believed the cadets in the second design looked "wooden" and the color guards traditionally number five.
The commission concurred with the recipient organization's preference for the first reverse design, which incorporates the academy's Bicentennial logo representing a portion of the West Point insignia. The design features a Greek warrior's Corinthian helmet from the temple of Athena, with a sword in the background.
The commission rejected the second reverse design, which incorporated the entire West Point logo, complete with striped shield in the background, topped by an heraldic eagle with arrows in both talons, flanked by a ribbon inscribed DUTY, HONOR COUNTRY AND WEST POINT MDCCCII U.S.M.A.
