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What should represent Massachusetts on a new quarter?
By adamg on Tue, 02/10/2009 - 7:51am
The government liked the 50-state quarters so much, they're doing it again, this time with a national park or monument. Gov. Patrick's throwing it open to the teeming masses with a poll. For the love of God, whatever you do, do NOT vote for Plymouth Rock - could anything possibly be more boring?
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Comments
Once again, Cronin Park gets short shrift
Write-in campaign, anybody?
Serious Question - Anyone Know?
What is the cost of producing 50 separate designs of quarters, and does this turn out to be an actual profit or a loss for the government?
I saw recently where the mint is issuing four new designs of the penny, in honor of Lincoln's 200th birthday. Correct me if I'm wrong, please, but doesn't it cost more to make a penny than a penny is worth? What possible gain can there be in producing four different pennies? It seems to me like this is a tremendous waste of money, but perhaps I'm unaware of some extenuating circumstances.
Suldog
http://jimsuldog.blogspot.com
Not that much more expensive...
... as I understand it (and I saw it on one of the Science Channel shows), the only additional cost is for engraving the original(s). The actual minting is automated, you just need to switch that coin's die for the different production runs. The current quarters are released each year in batches of 4 states; that lets the mint only have to produce from 4 dies per year. Compared to the other costs (raw materials, electricity, distribution of the finished product), die production is the cheapest part of minting.
And having 50 versions makes it much harder to accurately counterfeit (like anyone could be bothered anymore).
Pennies are a different problem; most countries (Canada, Australia) have gotten rid of penny coins. Modern pennies are primarily zinc, and while cheaper than copper, it's still no bargain.
Man.
Man. Franklin County got the shaft. How would one represent a "historic district" on a quarter, anyway? That's ultra lame. And then there's the wonderful part where they claim the Wendell Town Common is in Whately. (Google Maps says the towns are nearly 30 miles apart.)
And they wonder why folks in Western Mass. love to go pee in the Quabbin.
Once again, Cronin Park gets short shrift
Write-in campaign, anybody?
I think it goes without
I think it goes without saying we should be voting for the U.S.S. Constitution. A close runner up (or actually better choice) would be the Adams National Historic Parks.
I think we can all say Elm Park from Worcester isn’t in the same caliber…
Looking at that list,
Looking at that list, Plymouth Rock is near the top for me. The real story of the Rock through time is anything but boring. On the other hand, Lee Lower Main Street Historic District, St. Mary's Complex, Boston Edison Power Station, Newton and Al's Diner... not so much. This is, after all, going on the back of a quarter.
I would totally vote to put
I would totally vote to put a diner on the quarter over Plymouth Rock.
how come The Big Dig isn't
how come The Big Dig isn't on this list? I can't think of anything that better embodies what Massachusetts is all about: waste and corruption.
Not a bad idea; although
Not a bad idea; although this design would probably take over two decades to complete, and the quarter would only be worth about 5 cents.
The Rosebud!
Wow! How did the Rosebud in Somerville get on the list? I remember knocking on the door there at 2 in the morning to get a six pack in a brown paper bag. Now, that's historic!
Sawx
Geez, I don't even know what half those places are. Just put Fenway park on the quarter and be done with it. :)
The mint does make some money selling the sealed coins to collectors - not sure if they sell enough to cover the costs - but they produce lots of other collectible coins all the time, so this isn't out of the ordinary.
But where
where are my county pennies?
Call me hopelessly earnest, but...
I'm actually amazed at the number of credible sites on that list. Early colonies, the Revolution, whaling, fishing, industrialization, the Cape Cod National Seashore, the BPL, Harvard. I guess I just haven't seen a list in a while that reminds me how much has happened around here.
Maybe they should have a two-sided design, as in, "Hooray! Massachusetts was the cradle of the Revolution. On the flip side, there was Sacco and Vanzetti..."
On the flip side, there was
And like the Rosenbergs, guilty as sin. If two murdering Klansmen got the same trial, would you be citing them as victims of injustice?
Rosenbergs
By now I thought the general consensus was that only Julius was guilty, not Ethel.
call me a nerd, but...
I went with the Boston Public Library. It was the nation's first publicly supported city library, and it embraces the value of lifelong learning and civic culture.
Ditto.
Ditto.
Awesome
You rock. Good choice.
The Toll House in Whitman
We really need to increase awareness of our delicious state cookie. What better way than on a cookie-shaped coin? Plus, I'd bet Nestle would kick a few bucks back to the state.
A noble depiction of a
A noble depiction of a lawnchair placed square in the middle of a freshly shoveled parking space.... with a Minute Man guarding it
Old North Church
USS Constitution is great, but not part of the Massachusetts origins of the USA - this is more like it, from the Longfellow poem:
Listen my children and you shall hear
Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere,
On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-five;
Hardly a man is now alive
Who remembers that famous day and year.
He said to his friend, "If the British march
By land or sea from the town to-night,
Hang a lantern aloft in the belfry arch
Of the North Church tower as a signal light,--
One if by land, and two if by sea;
And I on the opposite shore will be,
Ready to ride and spread the alarm
Through every Middlesex village and farm,
For the country folk to be up and to arm."
Oh, Hell
Why don't we just cram as many Kennedys as possible onto the back of the quarter, with this writing: "Not just our state, but Rhode Island and NY, too!"
Suldog
http://jimsuldog.blogspot.com
I like it
But we could probably get some more liberals on there - maybe gay weddings and other things that annoy other states.
The Once and not future King
I was thinking of a profile shot of the former King Tom Finneran but maybe you have to be dead first to get put on any coin. Diane Wilkerson runs a close 2nd in my book, followed by the man who used to be Mitt Romney.