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| The Delaware Quarter Story |
| When Congressman Mike Castle proposed to highlight each state with a quarter in order of their entrance into the union, those in Delaware were excited to be the first. The governor, Tom Carper, decided to let the citizens of Delaware vote for their favorite design. On February 2, 1998, he called on the residents of the state to submit images to the Delaware State Arts Council. Seger, an art teacher at Caesar Rodney High School asked his Art II students to create designs for a plaster bas relief of the coin, and then decided to show them how he would do one himself. He chose to feature patriot and signer of the Declaration of Independence, Caesar Rodney, on his stormy ride to Philadelphia July 1-2, 1776 (A tie in the Delaware delegation threatened to doom the motion for independence.) Being the first state to design its own quarter, artists didn't know what words would be retained on the reverse side of the coin (it evidently had not been established yet), so they used the current quarters as their guide. Along with the horse and rider, "United States of America," "1787," "E Pluribus Unum," and "Delaware," he included a silhoette of the state, a diamond (Diamond State), a lady bug (state bug -- for the children), and holly (state tree). After reviewing over 300 submissions (forty from Seger's classes), the council passed along some twenty pieces of artwork to the U.S. Mint with recommendations. Each artist was notified and signed away rights to his/her work, knowing that the drawings would possibly be edited and refined if selected. The mint was to evaluate the designs, judge them for their "coinability" and appropriate quality, and return three finished designs to the state for final approval. Upon receipt of the three concepts, the governor published them and invited phone and email balloting. One of the designs included a quill pen and parchment, signifying the ratification of the Constitution. The second was a concept few could place -- a "Lady Liberty" holding the baby Delaware in one arm with a torch in the other and the sun rising over the blue rocks. Seger thought she looked a bit sleazy; not at all appropriate for a Delaware coin. The third design, Caesar Rodney, was similar to Seger's, but it had been reversed and altered. Evidently William Cousins, the craftsman at the mint who worked on the reproduction, wanted to make it his own with the alterations. This didn't disappoint Seger as much as the fact that Caesar Rodney had been reversed, revealing the left side of his face. Caesar Rodney never had a portrait done because he was afflicted with a cancerous growth on his left cheek. He often wore a large patch or veil over the area to avoid repulsing those around him. He would never have approved of a profile looking to the viewer's left. Either Mr. Cousins didn't know, or he didn't care. He and Seger had based their work on the sculpture of Caesar Rodney by James Kelly (1922) in Rodney Square, Wilmington. Several days of voting in June resulted in 235 votes for Lady Liberty Holding the Baby Delaware, 336 votes for the quill and parchment, and 948 for Caesar Rodney. A couple of days later, to Seger's great surprise, a former student called to say that the U.S Mint had given him credit for the design on their web page. Two pages long at the time, it stated that Eddy Seger, art and drama teacher at Caesar Rodney High School, had submitted the winning design concept. Credit was not sought -- it was given by the U.S. Mint itself. Evidently, credit became an issue later with other state submissions. Each state was selecting its images in different ways; some by popular ballot, some by committee, and others hired the work out. The problem of credit became so acute that the mint asked for guidance from its early contributors. Seger receive a questionnaire and several phone calls from the mint regarding the process. The mint wanted to eliminate the controversy by shutting out the local artists all together and just take "concept" paragraphs as submissions. They didn't want to offend the non-artists in the states; the mint artists would put image to their ideas. Seger responded forcefully that the proposal would shut down interest and eliminate a whole body of talent that could make the coins truly representational, engaging and wide-ranging. He cited his own expereince as evidence that someone in Washington was not necessarily the best person to represent Delaware's image. This fell on deaf ears. They had, as he feared, already made up their minds at the mint. They ignored his recommendations, would not return his calls nor did they respond to him in any way. The two web pages for the Delaware Quarter were reduced to one, the credited name (Seger's) removed, and the word "winning" was changed to "selected" (see link). So, today the mint still gives credit to an art and drama teacher from Caesar Rodney High School for submitting the "selected" design concept. And, no state artwork has been accepted by the U.S. Mint for years. That's the story. |
| Seger's Original Design as struck by the |
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| Seger's Original Design |
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| The Delaware Quarter |