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http://www.wbay.com/Global/story.asp?S=1463805&nav=51s7IHD0
Wisconsin Quarter: A Valuable Choice?
By Jerry Burke
09/30/2003
Governor Doyle is going with the cow
quarter. Tuesday afternoon the governor rejected a recommendation
from his advisory committee and selected the agricultural design for
Wisconsin's commemorative quarter.
The design features a cow, a wheel of
cheese, and a stalk of corn. The U.S. Mint plans to issue the state
quarter in October, 2004.
Governor Doyle selected the design
that won a public Internet vote last week. Forty percent of 347,000
votes cast on a state web site favored the agricultural design. It
beat the early exploration motif featuring a fur trapper greeting an
American Indian, which had 32 percent of the vote, and a design
showing a deer in a field finished third with 28 percent.
Is Wisconsin's choice one that will be
treasured and worth a lot to collectors compared with other state
quarters? Like everyone, coin collectors and dealers had different
opinions about the design they wanted to see on the Wisconsin quarter,
but from purely a collector's standpoint, like all state quarters, it
really doesn't make a difference which design is picked.
"I don't think any of them will
have any great value. The mintage will be two to three hundred million
of each mint mark which is a total of about 500 million, and the
people that are really interested will put away more than they
need," Fritz Voecks of Fox Valley Coin said.
History teachers say like most other
state coins, Wisconsin's should reflect its heritage. "I think
purely historical, that would be the roots of our country or of our
state, excuse me-- that would be the traders coming into Green Bay and
trading with native American tribes in the area," Terry Gross said.
The quarter isn't the first coin
minted for Wisconsin. Back in 1936, just over 25,000 half-dollars
celebrating Wisconsin's territorial centennial were minted. Today the
50-cent coin is worth $200.
Coin collectors say because so many
state quarters have been minted, they might, at most, double in value in
20 years.
Copyright 2003 WBAY. The Associated Press
contributed to this report. |
