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Alex Cabrero reportingIt's been seven years since the first state quarter came out. Delaware was first to become a state, so it got the first quarter.
With 2006 here, that means one more year until Utah gets its quarter. But the final designs are just a few weeks away.
For the past year, the state has been getting ideas from the public-- especially school children-- on what design should be on the Utah quarter. They received 5,000 submissions, and had to narrow it down to three to send to the U.S. Mint. Now, it has to be narrowed to one.
The 25-cent piece. It's probably American's most favorite coin, especially since the U.S. Mint started pressing state designs on them.
Josh Rust: "It's been the best free advertising for every coin store across the country."
Josh Rust should know. He's a third generation owner of Rust Rare Coin in Salt Lake City, and says the statehood series has made lots of people collectors.
Josh Rust/ Rust Rare Coin: "We have lots of people coming in all the time to see what the new state quarter is."
But it's always been New York or Tennessee, New Hampshire or Maine. Never Utah. But soon, pardon the pun, that'll change.
Margaret Hunt/ Utah Quarter Commission: "This is really exciting. We've had so much interest from the public in doing this."
Utah's quarter will be out in 2007. But what should our design be? We asked some Utahns what design they think best says Utah.
"Probably somethig to do with the Olympics?"
"Mountains would be a good one."
"Promontory Point."
"I guess you could put the buffalo on it."
"Probably the beehive."
"Skiing, snowboarding, maybe Sundance?"
"Proabably something with the Great Salt Lake on it?"
All great ideas. But the state has it down to three.
Keep in mind, these aren't the official final designs, just something our graphics department came up with. Yes, the beehive.
Winter sports, which could mean ice skating, bob sled, or skiing.
And the Golden Spike Locomotive design.
One of the three concepts will be Utah's quarter. And of course, we want it to be the best state quarter.
Margaret Hunt: "There's a competitive side to this. We want to come out with something we can really be proud of and create a great buzz for the state."
Again, the official final three designs will be out in about two weeks. Then, the public has a chance to give its opinion. Governor Huntsman makes the final choice, and it'll be out next year.
