We're in the money...we're in the money...
The new quarters have been around for a while and seem to be overwhelmingly popular. Well, at least popular enough for some fly by night company to be able to hawk cheap cardboard maps for people to stick their quarters in at $25 a pop. Now that some time has passed we can address the important question - how cool are they?
Connecticut
I have no idea what the Charter Oak is, but it sure looks cool. I love the intricacies of the branches as it fills the back of this quartrer - simple and complex at the same time. A beauty. Grade: A
Delaware
A guy on a horse and you think Paul Revere, right? But Revere was from Massachusetts, not Delaware. Who the hell is this Caesar Rodney? This lifeless depiction of a man on horseback lacks a background, making the quarter even more dull and empty than you would think possible. Grade: F
Georgia 
A peach? Oh, that's original. Grade: C
New Jersey
I admit that I'm biased since I was born in New Jersey, but I think this is the best design that anyone could have come up with. It combines an event of critical national importance that is state specific with an image that anyone can recognize. We've all seen Emmanuel Leutze's 1851 painting in one form or another, and we all know (or should know) the story of George Washington leading his troops across the Delaware River to Trenton to kick British and Hessian ass on Christmas 1776, a turning point in the Revolutionary War. The image is a powerful and easily recognizable one - this quarter has it all. Grade: A+
Pennsylvania
Think of all the history that happened in Pennsylvania - the Liberty Bell, the Continental Congress, the signing of the Declaration of Independence, Valley Forge, and countless more things of historical importance. All that history, all those images, and this is the best they can come up with, this half-assed piece of tired neo-classical symbolism? What a joke. Grade: D-
(March 26, 2000)