Today at 5p.m. the Governor of Oklahoma declared an end to the contest for the design of the Oklahoma State quarter to be issued by the U.S. mint next year.
The five finalist designs may be viewed at
www.gov.ok.gov/coin.php
Now four of the five designs have as a part of the design the Pioneer Woman statue in Ponca City, Oklahoma. The fifth design has the State Bird, the scissor tail flycatcher, and the State Wildflower, the Indian blanket.
Now here is the rant. Pioneer Woman? Ponca City is in the Cherokee Outlet, it was settled by a rambuncious land run in 1893. A sweet little pioneer woman, as pictured, would have been among the first road kill in Oklahoma if she had tried to walk like that into the Territory. The statue is one of those western bullshit images so favored back in 1929 when it was created. Not to mention that the "Pioneer Woman" is hardly an "Oklahoma concept". Google "pioneer woman statue" on Images and you get 29,000 pictures of pioneer women statues across almost every state in the U.S., not to mention Australia, New Zealand, and Canada as well. So unique it is not. It is also out of time as well as out of place in Oklahoma History.
But here is the irony. To allow the image to be used, the mint has to take the Bible out of her hand. The mint regulations state that: "Inappropriate design concepts include, but are not limited to...depictions of ...religious...etc. Nope, no Bible allowed.
Of course that means that a few (million) Buckle on the Bible Belt Okies are up in arms that the Bible will not be depicted on their coin and are griping about it already.
Well here is hoping that the mint chooses the flower and the bird design. It is far more appropriate to the uniqueness of the State. I think if one of the other four designs make it into production I may acquire a steel punch with the word LAME on it and mark every Oklahoma quarter that comes my way with that sentiment.
Now that would make our State quarter unique.
Whoops, the results are in. A pioneer woman coin is one of the two top vote getter's.
It is now a 50/50 chance!
Wonder how much it will cost to get that steel punch made?
http://www.ok.gov/governor/display_article.php?article_id=822&article_type=1
9 comments:
My fellow Okies amaze, and disappoint, me.
OH YOU GUYS ARE A PAIN IN THE BACKSIDE!!!! Drlobojo, I'm glad to see you finally create your blog, but seriously. (shaking head).
I was born and raised a Ponca City girl -- excuse me, woman. I love the statue. I was there last Thursday, as a matter of fact, to visit her and her son and spend time at a quilt exhibit of state quilts. I had quite an interesting conversation with the museum's curator, too, considering that Thursday afternoon at the museum is not exactly a high-volume time.
I'll be proud if she appears on our quarter. You both just come from the "wrong" quadrant of the state to appreciate her.
Sorry Trixie the only thing "authentic" about that statue is the sun bonnet. The statue belongs somewhere on the Oregon or California Trails. Yes we briefly had a Californa trail through Oklahoma but it ran way South of Ponca City.
But you are correct about the quadrants. Oklahoma has never been a single State. It has always been bisected into four quadrants that have damn little in common with one another. Thus the State quarter should transend that seperatness with a universal symbology.
How about a casino? :)
Crystal
Casino? Good point, but they are not quite umbiqitous yet.
Of course, I think the opposite. Somehow, all four quadrants should be represented on our quarter: How about a Cherokee Indian readin' a newspaper (northeast) livin' in a dugout (northwest) next to a coal mine (southeast) with a Ghost Dance (southwest) unnder way in the background?
That vote total is from the original voting when there were 10 incredibly amateurish sketches to choose from. Note the date on the release is September 2006. I don't think we yet know which of the five current finalists (four of which include the Pioneer woman image) has garnered the most votes.
Now it's official. Bird and flower (not moose and squirrel) overwhelming choice of online voters to adorn Oklahoma quarter:
Gov. Henry Announces Design
Of State Commemorative Quarter
Oklahoma City -- As the result of a statewide vote, Gov. Brad Henry announced today that Oklahoma’s commemorative quarter will feature the state bird and state wildflower: the scissor-tailed flycatcher and the Indian blanket (Gaillardia pulchella).
More than 148,000 votes were cast in selecting the design for the quarter, part of a special series launched by the U.S. Mint in 1999.
“Oklahomans have spoken and the results are clear,” Gov. Henry said of the online vote, in which people chose between five design proposals.
“In the year of our glorious centennial, I felt it was important to give Oklahomans the final word on what will grace our commemorative quarter. Oklahoma has a rich heritage and diverse culture, and so it was a formidable challenge to distill everything that is Oklahoma down to a single design. But tens of thousands of our citizens took that challenge, and the result is an illustration that attests to the state’s natural beauty.”
The online vote capped a design selection that the Governor had crafted to let Oklahomans choose what would appear on the quarter. The process began last year, when two committees reviewed hundreds of designs submitted by Oklahomans and subsequently agreed on 10 final proposals.
Gov. Henry then asked Oklahomans to choose the five finalists that were then submitted to the Treasury Department. Under federal guidelines, those designs were written narratives that the Mint converted to visual form.
Oklahomans then voted again, choosing among the five designs crafted by the U.S. Mint.
The #2 design proposal won handily. Earning more than 50 percent of the vote, it beat out competing illustrations that featured representations of the Pioneer Woman, a gushing oil derrick, waving wheat, a windmill and a calumet.
The final vote tallies are as follows:
#2 - 76,643
#3 - 19,740
#4 - 18,976
#1 - 17,784
#5 - 15,023
Outstanding! I'm really glad cause that custom made steel punch with word "LAME" on it was gonna cost me $125.
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