California State Quarter

flaminio · January 1, 2003 1:55PM

The State of California has posted the 20 finalists for its state quarter.

And heeeeere they are...

I voted for #1.

Loki · January 1, 2003 2:02PM

I voted for #4.

wallstreetman · January 1, 2003 2:02PM

I always thought the statue of a film crew at Universal would make a good coin design! California has always been known for Hollywood!

littlewicher · January 1, 2003 2:05PM

I love design number four. The design looks very prestigious.

gmarguli · January 1, 2003 2:05PM

Some of those are truely awful.

I voted #3.

wallstreetman · January 1, 2003 2:08PM

I guess Ill take 18, for the Gold rush! I wouldnt want anything from S.F, wouldnt want to be known as the Gay State, leave that to Hawaii!

JamminJ · January 1, 2003 2:09PM

I voted for number 11. I'm not sure if I love it or I hate it, but it sure stands out!

-JamminJ

BigDipper · January 1, 2003 2:11PM

i like # 18!

Placid · January 1, 2003 2:11PM

I voted for this one. Gives the engraver a challenge.

berrydingle · January 1, 2003 2:14PM

COIN #17 WOULD PROBABLY PRODUCE A NEW PCGS DESIGNATION, i.e. "full rings" MS67FR

Cam40 · January 1, 2003 2:37PM

uh oh...I guess I voted for a loser.hehe. .44%.I guess I,m the .44% LMAO!!!!
I just thought #15 looked like it fit in with the general designs thus far in the series.
And since the prevailing theme is the Golden Gate bridge.
I agree with Placid on #12.It could look nice if designed like a SLQ or Walker .

NumisEd · January 1, 2003 2:40PM

Good grief! I just can't take these state quarters anymore! ALL of those designs are horrible. It's like a contest to see how much CRAP a designer can fit in the little circle. TOO MUCH detail, and the detail is too intricate. Each coin should have ONE central device, such as an eagle or a fasces. The US Mint is allowing oil painters to submit designs and it just does not work. I am disappointed every time I look at a state quarter. I especially dislike the use of a thin line to show the outline of a state. Reeeeal creative....not. John Reich is probably rolling in his grave!!!

relayer · January 1, 2003 2:53PM

#2 was the closest to my design, but I voted for #11.

It's more conceptual then detailed and I think it would make a great proof

NumisEd · January 1, 2003 5:55PM

Relayer, I must have missed that design. The image of the quarter in your last post is GREAT. I like it a lot. Much better!!! Was that quarter on the California site?

LanLord · January 1, 2003 10:51PM

I thought that some of those designs were really good, probably better than anyone at the mint could do justice with. Others were so-so, and one or two really bad. I liked several of them enough to be happy if they won, but I voted for #4. I also think that #11 would make a great looking Proof, but I don't know if the mint can handle something so modernistic without screwing it up.

nwcs · January 1, 2003 10:59PM

Some are truly bad. But I liked 4. I'm not a citizen of CA, but I voted anyway in the grand American tradition!

JLW · January 1, 2003 11:23PM

Number 3 is good, but I liked number 4 a little better. It is almost a certainty that the one chosen will be one of the designs with the Golden Gate bridge depicted.
Joe

cosmicdebris · January 1, 2003 11:30PM

Nothing there thrilled me.

flaminio · January 1, 2003 11:33PM

Here's my GBU review of the finalists (reposted from RCC):

Good
----
1. John Muir -- a nice historical theme, nicely rendered. Somewhat avoids the North-South feud.
3. Bear and Half Dome -- Of course, there are no more Grizzlies in CA (except on the flag), but this is a nice historical and natural scene.
4. GGB with Columbia -- OK, it's not a great design, but I like seeing the return of Columbia, last seen on the 1915 PanPac Half
12. Columbia striding with a bear and a gold nugget -- it's a nice design, but a little too symbolic -- the proles will never "get" this one.
18. Prospector over a SO -- I'm tentatively including this in the "good", if only they'd lose the SO. I'd also like to see the word "eureka" make it onto the design somewhere.
19. California symbols collage. I'm not sure why I like this one -- perhaps because it was actually an attempt to take a bunch of symbols and artistically render them together, as opposed to just splashing clipart all over the place.

Bad
---
2. GGB in front of Hollywood sign, with trees. Tries to resolve North-South interests in a Frankensteinian manner. Ick.
6. Filmstrip with CA scenes. Nice try, but poorly implemented. I'm not sure this is a workable idea at all.
7. The Trees. Sorry, Dan -- I like trees as much as anyone, but this bizarre forest just does not say "California" to me. It looks like something from the Genesis planet in Star Trek III.
8. Prospector, mountains, film, DNA montage -- too cluttered, too busy. The designer tried to shoehorn as many California thingees into the design as possible, with less than stellar results.
9. GGB, plain and simple -- The LA crowd will never go for this one.
11. Waves. Is this what California will look like, after it has fallen into the ocean?
15. GGB over a nugget with Eureka scroll -- I like the idea of getting the word "Eureka" onto the coin, but the nugget will look like a lump when coined. It's also another all-North coin that the South will hate.
16. GGB morphing into a filmstrip with state symbols on it -- The Redwood tree provides the divider in the morph -- but it's just not an attractive rendering.

Ugly
----
5. SO with cornucopia. Ugh. OK, I get it -- California is a "horn of plenty" -- but that symbol is never used in CA. And superimposed on a SO -- could it get any worse?
10. A SO with a bunch of clipart -- looks like it was designed in about 20 minutes with a Photoshop clipart library.
13. "A Golden Moment" -- Who the heck thought up that phrase? It's nothing any Californian has ever heard of. I wouldn't mind seeing the prospector, but the 1925 Half did it lots better.
14. GGB and film camera on SO -- another poor attempt to satisfy both north and south.
17. Giant Sequoia, with Latin -- Guaranteed to evoke a "huh?" from the proles. I presume the seismic circles radiating from the epicenter of the coin would be removed in the final design?
20. GGB on a SO -- GMAFB. I predict this will be the ultimate winner.

I voted for #1, but I see others are voting for #4, and that's a good one, too. I'll vote for #4 when I get to work today (vote early and often, as they say).

Bikingnut · January 2, 2003 12:11AM

I voted for lucky number 13. I really like that design. Seems that one is also in the lead..

shirohniichan · January 2, 2003 12:37AM

Good grief! I just can't take these state quarters anymore! ALL of those designs are horrible. It's like a contest to see how much CRAP a designer can fit in the little circle. TOO MUCH detail, and the detail is too intricate. Each coin should have ONE central device, such as an eagle or a fasces.

Yea, verily.

#14 is the most formulaic, though ugly, so it will probably win. Are those supposed to be clouds or Mickey Mouse ears in the background of #12?!

I voted for #4.

Flash · January 2, 2003 1:20AM

First of all, any design with a state outline has got to go! Nothing really stood out and said "California" to me, but I finally decided to go with #4. Design number 11 is pretty cool, but too modernistic to be selected. The designs that show mountains and bears and trees just don't do it for me either. The design with the greatest amount of votes so far (#13) is, in my opinion, one of the ugliest of the entire bunch and, therefore, will probably be the one chosen.

Bikingnut · January 2, 2003 1:49AM

Actually #13 has the most amount of votes.

Flash · January 2, 2003 2:20AM

I meant to type 13. My previous post has been edited to reflect that. Thanks.

asnooker · January 2, 2003 2:53AM

UGH...Some are really bad, then there are so many that are very similar to each other. I went with 16. I liked the movie film going thru the Golden Gate bridge. It will be interesting to see the winner. Thanks for posting the link.

prooflike · January 2, 2003 3:07AM

I think #12 would mae for a high-grade numismatic challenge, lots of unprotected flat surfaces on that one.

I narrowed it down to three #3 #13 #18

and voted for #13!

Steve27 · January 2, 2003 3:14AM

My favorite is number 12; it's about time somebody came up with an original design.

gmarguli · January 2, 2003 3:21AM

#13 with the phrase "Golden Moment" and the flash of light makes me think it is a Kodak film commercial.

gmarguli · January 2, 2003 3:21AM

BTW, nothing stops you from hitting the back button and voting again. I just tried that about 10 times with #3 and I watched it's vote percentage go up by .02 points.

Russ · January 2, 2003 3:34AM

Greg is right. I just added .50 to the total for #11 by voting a bunch of times in a row. I assume they're not actually going to use this to decide the recommendation.

Russ, NCNE

shirohniichan · January 2, 2003 4:13AM

Of course they won't. They'll just choose #14 since it looks like all the other state quarters, even if the artists who submitted the other designs vote and revote to bump the apparent popularity of their submissions. I don't think artistic merit has much to do with the final winner.

I'm a bit surprised that there isn't a design of a lesbian dock worker burning down a Korean-owned liquor store in the name of justice.

laserart · January 2, 2003 4:49AM

#18 is what I think of when California comes to mind, other than the shakin.

Russ · January 2, 2003 4:55AM

<< <i>I'm a bit surprised that there isn't a design of a lesbian dock worker burning down a Korean-owned liquor store in the name of justice. >>

Bwuahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Russ, NCNE

Flash · January 5, 2003 4:47AM

So far it looks as if designs #2 and #13 are the contenders. I think design #2 looks much nicer than #13.

wallstreetman · January 6, 2003 5:17AM

Looks like were going to have the Gold Rush theme! Both miner designs doing good!

sumnom · January 6, 2003 5:40AM

I went for number three. Four was nice too. The others were only so much pablum. Anything with an SO has gotta go. In general, they all like imagination. This state quarter program has really produced quite a lot of trash, I am sorry to say. It does not bode well for the change of US coin designs.

I thought the bear on the state seal was not a grizzly but a golden bear or some such creature that was native to California but hunted into extinction in the very early 1910's by those wiley Californians.

paigowjohnny · January 6, 2003 5:43AM

Great...they're all lame...looks like I'll be as embarassed of the quarter of my adopted home state just as I am of my native state quarter (Ohio)

mdwoods · January 6, 2003 5:45AM

Number 7, the Tree coin. mdwoods

MrLee · January 6, 2003 7:47AM

I went with #4. This said "CA" to me. But #14 looks like every other SQ, so I'm sure that will be the winner.

abuell · January 6, 2003 9:50AM

It was really tough to decide which was best, but I finally voted for the one with the gun, the body outline and the crack pipe.

IrishMike · January 6, 2003 10:07AM

A California State Quarter would not be complete without a panhandler on it, has to be #13.

hookedoncoins · January 6, 2003 10:18AM

I don't like the wave one thats winning.

-Jarrett Roberts

cdwegner · January 9, 2003 4:20AM

someone had a website with joke versions of the California quarter.

anyone know the link?

I found this one... http://www.marijuana-art.com/ACalQuarter.html

SemperFI · January 9, 2003 4:39AM

I am looking towards #1, #3, #4, #7. So I will vote an even number for about an hour, screw up the vote so others will follow in my lead. The rest just really suck ***.

California State Quarter

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