The first coin in our weekly State Quarter Thursdays is one of my more favorite. Few state quarters have captured the spirit of their states quite as well as this one. When you think of Wisconsin, the mind naturally drifts towards corn, cows, and of course, giant wheels of cheese. Apparently the people of Wisconsin agree, since that is what they selected for their coin! Hats off to them.
Of course, there is something else that makes this coin interesting. It had its 15 minutes of fame back in 2004, when it first came out. People began to notice some unusual variations on the ear of corn on the back, which turned out to be quite rare.
There are 3 types: normal, high leaf, and low leaf, shown here magnified for your comparison. Thanks to the good people at coinpage.com for the images!
Take the already popular run of commemorative state quarters, add a rare variation, and sprinkle on some mystery as to whether the change was intentional or not, and you have an ebay sensation. According to the wikipedia, one of these coins sold for more than $2000! It seems like everyone in coins has a different opinion about these little misfits. Some experts write off the extra leaves as damage, not even worth collecting, or at least only marginally more interesting than a regular coin. Others think the mint intentionally changed the design to improve it somehow. Still others think that it is damage, but the fact it looks like extra leaves makes it exciting. And by far the most interesting theory is that a rougue mint employee carved the extra leaves secretly, perhaps in an attempt to stir up the coin collecting community!
Who is correct? Look at the images and decide for yourself, we may never know for sure. While you're thinking about it, maybe check out your pocket change... there might be a high leaf waiting for you!
See you tomorrow!
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