There's a coin designer in the house, specifically the Michigan Statehouse.
Artist Steven M. Bieda of Warren, Mich., was recently elected as Michigan state representative from the 25th district. Bieda, a Democrat, will begin his two-year term in January.
Bieda is an attorney but he's best known to the coin collecting community as the designer of the reverse of the 1992 Olympic clad half dollar. The design shows a flowing olive branch over an Olympic torch at right, with the Olympic motto CITIUS ALTIUS FORTIUS (which translates to Faster, Higher, Stronger) above.
At one time, Bieda served as an aide to U.S. Rep. David Bonior, D-Mich. Bieda also served three years as a policy analyst for the Michigan House of Representatives. He was also the former labor relations director and a city attorney, both for Warren, Mich.
Bieda is a collector of U.S. and Canadian commemorative coins and commemorative medals. He began collecting in 1975 and is a member of the American Numismatic Association, the Michigan State Numismatic Society and other numismatic clubs.
"I ran [for state representative] two years ago and came real close against an incumbent," Bieda said. "I won this time with 57 percent of the vote. I officially take office on Jan. 1 but the public swearing-in will be on Jan. 8."
In the meantime, Bieda is busy putting together a staff and working out all the details required of an incoming legislator. Bieda said he lives about 90 minutes from the capital of Lansing and expects to be commuting quite a lot. He said he is still awaiting information regarding possible committee appointments. He said Michigan has a fulltime legislature and meets year-round, so he anticipates being very busy.
He said he's looking forward to working with the incoming governor Jennifer Granholm, the first woman elected as governor of Michigan.
"It will be helpful that we're from the same party and I think she'll bring lots of excitement to the state," he said.
Bieda said he knows there is some talk by collectors and others about petitioning the new governor to make changes to proposed 2004 Michigan State quarter dollar designs. Some have been critical of the five finalist designs submitted to the Mint earlier in 2002.
"I will keep an eye open for an opportunity to bring it up to her," he said.
"I think this will be the first time we have had a [State quarter] design process initiated by one governor and completed by another," he said.
Term limits prevented current Gov. John Engler from running again. Engler appointed the design selection committee and selected the five designs sent to the U.S. Mint on April 3. All five designs depict an outline of the state, both the Upper and Lower Peninsulas. The designs also depict one or several icons that reflect Michigan's character or history, including early automobiles, a lighthouse, the Mackinac Bridge and the Great Lakes.
Bieda said the idea of a car and the outline of the state has been used before in a medal honoring the state and even a Coin World medal issued for the 1984 American Numismatic Association convention in Detroit.
Bieda said he thinks it would be a mistake to restart the design selection process but suggests a review of the designs by a few new members to a committee appointed by Granholm might result in another design. He said he'd love to see a design highlighting the state's natural history, such as a white-tailed deer leaping across a field.
"I love the program but I'm sorely disappointed with some of the designs [so far]," Bieda said. "They remind me of the Shell Oil tokens from the '60s. We just don't see the Weinman, Fraser and Saint-Gaudens [type of] designs."
In 2000, Bieda visited a dozen or so classrooms in middle and elementary schools in the Warren Consolidated and Warren Woods school districts promoting the 50 State quarter dollars. He urged them to submit designs for the 2004 Michigan quarter dollar.
