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DENVER -- Colorado will become the 38th state with a commemorative quarter on Wednesday, with the U.S. Mint striking a coin that features a sweeping mountain range, pine trees, and the state's slogan, "Colorful Colorado."
But while the two-year, 1,500-submission process to settle on a design for the coin is history, a debate continues over whether the featured mountain range depicts a real land mass or an artist's imagination.
Gov. Bill Owens in June called the geographic feature a generic mountain range when he announced his pick of the final five contenders. He said he selected the "Colorful Colorado" design because it represented the state without singling out one specific trait.
Other contenders were mountains reminiscent of the Maroon Bells near Aspen; Pikes Peak near Colorado Springs; the Cliff Palace at Mesa Verde National Park; and a 10th Mountain Division skier, representing the skier-soldiers who trained in Colorado to fight in World War II.
"In the end, I made my selection based on what most people think of when they think of Colorado -- our majestic Rocky Mountains," Owens said.
But it didn't take long for people to notice that those mountains looked familiar. Englewood resident Caron Stone said the image is of Longs Peak, the jagged Keyboard of the Winds and Pagoda Peak.
"I was a park ranger at Rocky Mountain National Park for 17 years and many times I stood at Bear Lake and looked at Longs Peak from that angle," said Stone, 53. "It's quite obvious."
Karen Robinson of Loveland said she compared the quarter design to a photograph of the Keyboard of the Winds and found an exact match. She said even wrote the governor's office about her findings.
"They wrote back that several people e-mailed them about the same thing," said Robinson, 49. "But they said as far as the governor knows, it's still generic."
First lady Frances Owens, who was head of the 12-member committee charged with selecting the quarter design, said that as far as she knows, those mountains are fake.
She said the committee could not submit any drawings or photographs to U.S. Mint artists in Washington, only written descriptions of what they wanted on the coin.
"What they (the artists) were trying to avoid was problems they had in the past with other states that had just one person design it and submit it to them," Frances Owens said.
The artists could very well have looked at pictures, she said. The committee went back and fourth with them because their desired "majestic mountains" kept looking like "anthills."
"I don't know what came about of the mountains since they didn't know the state," she said. "They do look alike. But it wasn't drawn for that meaning."
She said the governor was still happy with his decision, but there are some detractors.
"I think Pikes Peak would have been a logical choice," said Robinson. "If you look at the map, it's close to the center of the state and that's how the state has been associated back east, historically."
Stone said she prefers the design that had the Maroon Bells. "I think it's an elegant design and it's much better known than Longs Peak."
Colorado historian Tom Noel said the decision couldn't have been easy for the governor. After all he said, there are the plains, the mountains, southern "Spanish" Colorado, and the Western Slope.
"I think you have to have unifying symbols," he said. "There could be an arguement for Pikes Peak, but its connection to Colorado Springs would make it offensive to liberals in Boulder."
Colorado's quarter will be the 38th under the Fifty States Commemorative Coin Program Act passed by Congress in 1997. Each year, five state coins are produced in the order of statehood.
Colorado became a state on Aug. 1, 1876.
But while the two-year, 1,500-submission process to settle on a design for the coin is history, a debate continues over whether the featured mountain range depicts a real land mass or an artist's imagination.
Gov. Bill Owens in June called the geographic feature a generic mountain range when he announced his pick of the final five contenders. He said he selected the "Colorful Colorado" design because it represented the state without singling out one specific trait.
Other contenders were mountains reminiscent of the Maroon Bells near Aspen; Pikes Peak near Colorado Springs; the Cliff Palace at Mesa Verde National Park; and a 10th Mountain Division skier, representing the skier-soldiers who trained in Colorado to fight in World War II.
"In the end, I made my selection based on what most people think of when they think of Colorado -- our majestic Rocky Mountains," Owens said.
But it didn't take long for people to notice that those mountains looked familiar. Englewood resident Caron Stone said the image is of Longs Peak, the jagged Keyboard of the Winds and Pagoda Peak.
"I was a park ranger at Rocky Mountain National Park for 17 years and many times I stood at Bear Lake and looked at Longs Peak from that angle," said Stone, 53. "It's quite obvious."
Karen Robinson of Loveland said she compared the quarter design to a photograph of the Keyboard of the Winds and found an exact match. She said even wrote the governor's office about her findings.
"They wrote back that several people e-mailed them about the same thing," said Robinson, 49. "But they said as far as the governor knows, it's still generic."
First lady Frances Owens, who was head of the 12-member committee charged with selecting the quarter design, said that as far as she knows, those mountains are fake.
She said the committee could not submit any drawings or photographs to U.S. Mint artists in Washington, only written descriptions of what they wanted on the coin.
"What they (the artists) were trying to avoid was problems they had in the past with other states that had just one person design it and submit it to them," Frances Owens said.
The artists could very well have looked at pictures, she said. The committee went back and fourth with them because their desired "majestic mountains" kept looking like "anthills."
"I don't know what came about of the mountains since they didn't know the state," she said. "They do look alike. But it wasn't drawn for that meaning."
She said the governor was still happy with his decision, but there are some detractors.
"I think Pikes Peak would have been a logical choice," said Robinson. "If you look at the map, it's close to the center of the state and that's how the state has been associated back east, historically."
Stone said she prefers the design that had the Maroon Bells. "I think it's an elegant design and it's much better known than Longs Peak."
Colorado historian Tom Noel said the decision couldn't have been easy for the governor. After all he said, there are the plains, the mountains, southern "Spanish" Colorado, and the Western Slope.
"I think you have to have unifying symbols," he said. "There could be an arguement for Pikes Peak, but its connection to Colorado Springs would make it offensive to liberals in Boulder."
Colorado's quarter will be the 38th under the Fifty States Commemorative Coin Program Act passed by Congress in 1997. Each year, five state coins are produced in the order of statehood.
Colorado became a state on Aug. 1, 1876.
