Spaceships, a statue of Vulcan and state symbols appear to be the favored design elements for Alabama's 2003 quarter dollar.
In a design contest launched by Gov. Don Siegelman, the emphasis was on the theme "Education: Link to the Past, Gateway to the Future." Every school in Alabama was allowed to submit three designs per grade. Schools could select designs to be submitted from individuals, groups or school competitions of their own creation. A spokesman for the governor's office said the idea behind the contest was to give students an opportunity to exercise their creativity and cause them to do some research into the state's rich history.
Siegelman sent several designs to the U.S. Mint.
One featured a timeline of Alabama imagery including a Native American, pine branches, an iron statue of Vulcan, the state Capitol as a symbol of the state's civil rights struggle and a Saturn V rocket.
State officials say in addition to representations of the state's flower, bird and state outline, they received many design concepts incorporating a spaceship or rocket, a reference to the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville and the statue Vulcan that symbolizes the state's iron production heritage. The 56-foot iron statue of Vulcan, the Roman god of fire, was sculptured in 1904 for an exhibit at the St. Louis World's Fair. The Commercial Club of Birmingham commissioned the statue to represent the state's leading production of iron. The statue, exhibited at the fair's Palace of Mines and Metallurgy, holds a spear point in his right hand and in his left hand is a hammer resting on an anvil. After the fair the statue was moved to the Alabama state fairgrounds and then Birmingham.
Other State quarter dollar designs awaiting approval at the U.S. Mint and Treasury level include those from Illinois, Maine, Missouri and Arkansas.
Illinois Gov. George H. Ryan also commissioned a design contest, which garnered more than 6,000 submissions with 5,500 of those from Illinois students in grades kindergarten to 12. In May, Ryan selected three themes to be submitted to the Mint. The Mint engravers will use the themes to create three to five candidate designs, which will be returned to Illinois for a final selection process later this year.
The three themes are: the rural, urban and political history of Illinois; the state's agriculture and industry; and state symbols.
Maine's Gov. Angus S. King Jr. sent four designs to the Mint in early July. The designs all incorporate some of Maine's maritime heritage. Design elements include views of its rocky shoreline, a lighthouse, a three-masted schooner, Mount Ktaadn and an outline of the state with the sun rising above a body of water indicating the state's position as the first to see the rays of the morning sun.
Missouri officials selected five design concepts in the spring and sent them on to the Mint. Images on the five top designs focus on Lewis and Clark, the Pony Express, the Gateway Arch, a Native American viewing westward expansion, the fiddle and the steamboat. The Mint is expected to return at least three designs to Gov. Bob Holden in October for his final selection.
In April, Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee announced his state's three finalists. The designs all incorporate an outline of the state along with examples of pine trees, birds, mountains, rice, the state Capitol, a large diamond, rivers and ducks.
States to be honored in 2003 would appear in this order: Illinois, Alabama, Maine, Missouri and Arkansas.
