I'm a bit of a coin collecter. Not terribly serious about it, to be honest. Much of my collection is worthless foreign coins that happen to look cool (though I admit to having a few that aren't worthless). All told, my coin collection isn't worth much, but I love it. It makes me quite happy.
When the 50 State Quarters program was announced, I was thrilled. After all, American coins are pretty boring, so any change at all is neat. And after a bit of waffling, I decided to go ahead and order a proof set of the first 5 coins. I got hooked. As soon as the US Mint offered a subscription, I signed up for it. Today, the 2003 coins arrived.
Illinois: "Land of Lincoln" with a silhouette of Lincoln inside an outline of the state, with a landscape in the background. Not too cluttered, but not really terribly striking, either. Because of the size of the coin, Lincoln is hard to see, on non-proof coins he's going to wear down quickly. But the detail on his outfit is impressive. Not bad.
Alabama: Seated image of Helen Keller with a banner reading "Spirit of Courage". Helen Keller's name is also in Braille. Very striking, if only because they had the strength to represent a person who battled agains the odds and won on their coin. The Braille is nice, but will probably wear away quickly on circulated coins... not that it's really big enough to read anyway. I admit I want to get one of these quickly so I can rub my finger on the Braille. Overall, pretty good.
Maine: I hope Washington's coin is this good. It's so simple. A lighthouse on a cliff. A ship. And yet it captures a mood perfectly. Yeah, I like this one a lot.
Missouri: "Corps of Discovery" with Lewis and Clark in a canoe under the Gateway Arch. Different than other coins, it'll jump out at you with the arch design. There's a lot of dates on this side of the coin: 2003 as the issue date, 1821 as the Statehood date, and 1804 and 2004 under the Corps of Discovery title. It's ok, not my favorite.
Arkansas: A diamond. A forest. A mallard. A lake. Hmm. What is this coin trying to say? Whatever, it's cluttered and not very original. The diamond is probably the most interesting thing about the coin. Not very impressive.
For a lot more information on the program, visit the US Mint's 50 State Quarters Program page. There's a lot of cool information there, including a complete list of coins to come (just click on a state whose coin isn't out yet).
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