Post Your Coins And Medals With A Design By John Mercanti

Very interesting!

Looking forward to seeing some other states.

Fascinating!

Love the history here. I had just recently learned about the Whitehead claims as well.

Very interesting!


True, although some of us just found it easier to add DCT pages to our existing Statehood Quarter albums.

It is not my only merger. Being uninterested in the varieties, my SBA dollars fit on a sixth page in the 7070. It filled the slack from not having the gold page.

Excellent!

The 2005 West Virginia State Quarter is the second-to-last State Quarter in which John Mercanti took a lead role.

West Virginia approached the selection of the design for its quarter a bit differently than most states. Instead of the WV Governor appointing a special committee or commission to judge design concepts submitted, the task was given to students from the Governor's School for the Arts. The students sifted through over 1,800 design submissions and decided upon five finalists to be reviewed by the Governor.

The Governor's School for the Arts (GSA) was created in 1994 by then-Governor Gaston Caperton and Dr. Henry Marockie, the West Virginia State Superintendent of Schools at the time. Rachel Worby, who served as First Lady of West Virginia from 1990 to 1997 (she married Governor Caperton in May 1990 after his divorce earlier that year), was instrumental in the School's creation. She is a trained, professional musician with a strong interest in children's programs and continues to be active as the Artistic Director and Conductor of MUSE/IQUE a music-based performing arts organization in Pasadena, California.

The GSA is a three-week, tuition-free summer program for school-age artists. When it was launched, it included specialized instruction in dance, instrumental music, theatre and the visual arts. Subsequently, the GSA added classes in creative writing, digital media art and vocal music.

GSA students narrowed the concept themes to: "Appalachian Warmth," "Bridge Day at New River Gorge," "Mother's Day / Anna Jarvis," "New River Gorge" and "River Rafters." These were sent by Governor Bob Wise to the US Mint for development into coin-ready artwork.

The Mint refined each of the submitted concepts and returned artwork for the five designs to Governor Wise for his selection. On March 31. 2004 Wise announced that he had selected one of West Virginia's most iconic sights - the steel bridge over the New River Gorge. The bridge was completed in 1977 and made it much, much easier to get across the river. Before the bridge was constructed, cars needed to travel down a winding, mountainside road in order to cross over a narrow bridge; the trip took approximately 40 minutes. Once the New River Gorge Bridge was in place, the same crossing was reduced to about one minute.

2005 West Virginia State Quarter


The quarter's design is a combination of West Virginia's natural beauty and a made-made symbol of human engineering ability. The bridge, within the New River Gorge National River unit of the National Park Service, is flanked by beautiful Appalachian Mountain forests. John Mercanti's "JM" initials can be seen at about the 4:30 clock position, below the bridge and near the rim.

The official launch ceremony was held on October 14, 2005 and was presided over by West Virginia Governor Joe Manchin III and US Mint Acting Director David A. Lebryk; Bob Wise did not attend the ceremony, his term as Governor ended on January 17, 2005. The ceremony included a dramatic presentation by actors portraying President Abraham Lincoln and Mary Todd Lincoln; West Virginia joined the Union on on June 20, 1863, during Lincoln's administration.

New River Gorge Bridge - Similar View to What is Seen on the Quarter

(Image Credit: Image courtesy of National Park Service, https://www.nps.gov/neri/planyourvi...gbridge.htm. Public Domain.)


New River Gorge Bridge - Interesting View from Underneath Showing Closeup of Bridge's Steel Structure

(Image Credit: Image courtesy of Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, www/loc.gov.picture. Public Domain.)

John Mercanti wrapped up his active design and engraving involvement with the State Quarters Program with the completion of his work on the 2006 South Dakota State Quarter. In 2006, Mercanti took on new responsibilities at the Mint, being promoted to Supervisor of Design and Master Tooling Development Specialist. It was essentially a promotion to Chief Engraver, but without the official title. On February 3, 2009, Edward Moy, the Mint Director at the time, resurrected the Chief Engraver title and assigned it to Mercanti; the Chief Engraver title had last been used with Elizabeth Jones who held it from 1981 to 1991 - it was vacant in the interim until Mercanti.

In January 2003, the South Dakota (SD) Bureau of Administration assigned a Project Coordinator to oversee the State Quarter design selection process. In October of 2003, a five-member South Dakota Quarter Advisory Committee was created. It was comprised of three members selected from SD's Tourism and Economic Development Department, and two individuals from SD's private banking industry.

South Dakota did not hold a statewide design contest to generate concept ideas, but did distribute a press release about the upcoming quarter. In response to the news release, the Committee received over 100 concepts from state residents via letter, telephone and email. The Committee reviewed the concepts received and decided on five themes for presentation to the US Mint:

- Mount Rushmore National Memorial
- American bison (buffalo)
- Ring-necked pheasant
- Mount Rushmore and a buffalo
- Mount Rushmore and a ring-necked pheasant

Clearly, incorporating the iconic Mount Rushmore into the design was a favored approach, with three of the five concepts including it. The Mint developed artwork from the concepts and returned its illustrations to the Governor's Office/Committee. After one review/update cycle, the Mint's final artwork was published by the Committee on the internet, as well as in SD newspapers and magazines; SD residents were asked to vote for their favorite. A dedicated internet site for voting on the SD Quarter designs was created for those with access, but paper ballots were also available. In the end, approximately 172,000 votes were counted by an independent company.

The winning design tallied 65,766 votes (38.3%) and was the clear choice. The design, as seen on the SD Quarter, incorporates two single heads of wheat which flank a Chinese ring-necked pheasant in the foreground above and Mount Rushmore National Memorial in the background. The second-most popular design also featured Mount Rushmore National Memorial in the background, but with a right-facing bison in the foreground instead of a pheasant. The bison design captured 49,203 votes (28.6%).

South Dakota State Quarter


John Mercanti's "JM" initials are found below and slightly to the left of Lincoln.

The official launch ceremony for the quarter was held at the Mount Rushmore National Memorial Amphitheater on November 13, 2006. US Mint Director Edmund C. Moy, South Dakota Governor M. Michael Rounds, South Dakota First Lady Jean Rounds and Rapid City Mayor Jim Shaw hosted the event. The SD Quarter was the last to be launched in 2006.

Star Nation, a youth drum group started at local Stevens High School of Rapid City, SD performed during the ceremony. The group was formed to help preserve the Lakota culture by playing traditional Lakota songs that were heard at Native American ceremonies; it was started at the high school in 2005.

The 2006 SD State Quarter was not the first time the Mount Rushmore National Memorial appeared on a US coin. Collectors may recall the three-coin commemorative coin program struck by the Mint in 1991 to help mark the Memorial's 50th anniversary; each of the coins in the program - gold $5.00, silver dollar and CuNi clad half dollar - included the Memorial in its design.


Mount Rushmore National Memorial

(Image Credit: Image courtesy of National Park Service, https://www.nps.gov/moru/index.htm. Public Domain.