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Wisconsin can't decide between Cow & Cheese Wheel or Exploration for state quarter.

Choice of commemorative quarter could come down to coin flip
By Associated Press, 9/30/2003

MADISON, Wis. -- It could take a coin-flip to pick Wisconsin's commemorative quarter.

The state quarter advisory council was unable to reach a consensus Monday on whether the coin should be decorated with a cow and cheese wheel or a scene showing a fur trapper greeting an American Indian while standing in a canoe.

The council planned to meet via teleconference Tuesday to make its selection and forward it to the U.S. Mint. The council has final say over what design will appear on the quarter, which is expected to begin circulating in October 2004.

"We're at a deadlock as to this final design," said Jack Voight, state treasurer and a member of the council.

In an advisory ballot, 40 percent of the people who cast a vote over the Internet last week favored the agricultural design with the cow, while 32 percent supported the early exploration motif.

A design showing a deer in a field finished third with 28 percent of the 347,662 votes cast.

Council member Michael Stevens, the state's historian, said the winning design will make an important statement about Wisconsin to the rest of the country.

Stevens said urban Wisconsinites complained the agricultural theme didn't represent them, and he believed the early exploration design symbolized the entire state.

"It seems to me that by turning to history, that's something that represents all of us, and it sends an important message about diversity," Stevens said.

The coins are being minted in the order that the states they represent joined the Union. Wisconsin was the 30th state, making it the last of the five states honored next year after Michigan, Florida, Texas and Iowa.
"A happy person is not a person in a certain set of circumstances, but rather a person with a certain set of attitudes"--Hugh Downs

Comments

  • EvilMCTEvilMCT Posts: 799 ✭✭✭
    Not too hard to determine why they can't decide; each design is as boring as the next.

    Ken
    my knuckles, they bleed, on your front door
  • That article is incorrect in at least one aspect:

    The advisory council does not have final say over the design that will appear on the state quarter.

    The mint does. The advisory council gets to recommend the final designs and in the order of preference for the design. If I recall correctly, the U.S. Mint reserves final rights to making a choice if they deem that a particular design is not suitable for minting or if a design needs modifying to meet minting contraints.
    image
  • How about a bovine made of swiss cheese? Did I hear someone say "Holey Cow"? It seems that even though later states have had more time to come up with designs they end up being as lame as some of the early designs. Perhaps the mint should just call the whole thing off and go back to the pre-99 coin?
  • Not a chance they would call it off.

    The U.S. mint is "making money" like they never have before.
    (Both minting it and in profit)

    This is a imageimage for them.
    image
  • news is that the trapper design won even tho voting on the internet by wisconsinites voted for the cow/cheese big time. Steve
  • fcloudfcloud Posts: 12,133 ✭✭✭✭
    The artical in the Milwaukee Journal Sentenal said Gov. Doyle picked the cow/cheese quarter.

    President, Racine Numismatic Society 2013-2014; Variety Resource Dimes; See 6/8/12 CDN for my article on Winged Liberty Dimes; Ebay

  • The news I heard on wtmj this afternoon was that Doyle was ignored and the trapper won. The Sentinel is a morning paper.. They supposedly voted about 3 pm. Steve
  • fcloudfcloud Posts: 12,133 ✭✭✭✭
    I pulled it from their website, not the print version.

    President, Racine Numismatic Society 2013-2014; Variety Resource Dimes; See 6/8/12 CDN for my article on Winged Liberty Dimes; Ebay

  • As a native (ex) Wisconsinite I just figured that the best design would be a can of beer topped with a cheesehead.

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