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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;gunsmoke, post: 175649, member: 6896&quot;]When the state quarters started coming out, I decided not to save all of them. My collecting urge ebbs and flows anyway, and it was ebbing pretty strongly at that time. So I decided to save only those quarters whose designs I greatly admired. I’ll tell you what they are and what my pick is for the best design and hope you will give your picks.</p><p><br /></p><p>I did save a few quarters for what you might call sentimental reasons: South Carolina, for example, because I was born and raised there, although I haven’t lived there in years. Ed Reiter, who writes a column for COINage, called it a “ghastly mishmash.” I suppose it is a mishmash since, along with an outline of the state, it features the state bird (Carolina wren), the state flower (Yellow Jessamine) and the state tree (palmetto), but “ghastly” may be a bit strong.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>(I saved a few other “sentimental favorites” that I won’t go into.)</p><p><br /></p><p>Reiter has a mordant sense of humor and enjoys skewering most of the state quarters as “a humdrum parade of cookie-cutter images better suited to Cracker Jack tokens than official U.S. coinage.” He describes the Illinois design as “a footless Abe Lincoln seemingly encased in a jar of formaldehyde.”</p><p><br /></p><p>That’s not quite fair. Although the state outline is too small for the Lincoln figure, and obscures his feet, if you look closely, especially with magnification, you see that he is actually striding along with a book under his arm. The overall design, however, is ugly.</p><p><br /></p><p>Before I get to my favorite designs, let me mention that I saved one quarter for comic relief: Wisconsin. That cow just kills me.</p><p><br /></p><p>My picks for the best designs, in alphabetical order.</p><p><br /></p><p>California</p><p>Connecticut</p><p>Florida</p><p>Maine</p><p>Massachusetts</p><p>Nebraska (my runner up)</p><p>Nevada</p><p>Oregon</p><p>Pennsylvania</p><p>Vermont</p><p>West Virginia</p><p><br /></p><p>And my pick for the best design: Texas. An outline map of the state with a three-dimensional star on the right half and in the lower left of the field: “The Lone Star State.” No hokey stuff about the Texas Rangers or cattle drives or the Alamo. Just simple, tasteful elegance.</p><p><br /></p><p>Anybody?[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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