Drawing and quarters Debate over design of Missouri coin no two

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- Missourians will get one more online look at revised designs for a commemorative quarter honoring statehood, due to reach piggy banks and collectors next year.

But citizens won't be asked whether they prefer quarter designs drawn by Missourians in a much-publicized online competition -- or renditions by the U.S. Mint that, in some cases, dramatically changed the originals.

First lady Lori Hauser Holden says she wants to present only the Mint's latest designs on the Internet once the state receives them, probably in May.

She hopes at least two final designs are received from the Mint, "so we can truly have Missourians express their preference" through unscientific but popular Internet voting.

Asked about checking citizen reactions for versions from the Mint versus the Missouri originals on which they previously voted, Holden said she saw "no use" in such a contest.

Paul Jackson, a watercolorist from Columbia, doesn't think the online polls count for much with the Mint. "That is mere lip service, because in the end the Mint is going to do what it wants," he said.

Jackson's quarter design was the most popular in Mrs. Holden's online poll last year.

Larry, Moe and Curly

It shows explorers Lewis and Clark paddling a canoe. In the distant background is the St. Louis Arch, symbolizing Missouri's role in westward expansion.

When Jackson's image came back from the Mint, a third person had been added to the canoe -- one writer tagged them "Larry, Moe and Curly" -- with the nose of the canoe more prominent and the rear appearing submerged. The Arch's curves were also changed, while greenery along the river bank was eliminated. The word "bicentennial" was also misspelled by the Mint.

The Mint said the designs were altered for "coinability," the ability to be stamped onto a tiny coin. Jackson spat another word to describe the Mint's changes: "Sabotage!"

"I gave them a finished design -- not a rough draft," said Jackson.

A waiver signed by Jackson and other Missouri contestants pretty much hands the Mint all rights to the designs -- including an acknowledgment that changes may be made, or ideas combined.

"The rights of the Mint were made clear from the beginning in the releases all artists signed," Holden said. "And I don't think that the Mint has sabotaged any designs at all."

However, Beth Deisher, editor of Coin World, the largest and oldest magazine for coin collectors, said Missouri's flap is only the latest controversy about state quarter designs.

Deisher said some states didn't make it clear that the designs could be changed.

The clear incentive

For Jackson, this is no two-bit controversy.

"What about the thousands of school children who don't have lawyers to read the fine print? Clearly, the incentive to participate was being able to say forever more, 'I designed that quarter,'" he said.

Holden said she sympathized with Jackson. But she revealed that when the Mint first returned the top vote-getting designs to Missouri, his wasn't among them.

The first lady brought the Mint's omission to a committee she named to provide advice about possible designs.

"The Mint told us they were planning a Lewis and Clark commemorative silver dollar for 2004, and that they didn't want that theme for the Missouri quarter. But I insisted," Holden said.

So the Mint's variation of Jackson's design was put back into the running.