Kentucky’s state quarter features a thoroughbred racehorse behind a fence, a mansion looming on a hill, and the caption, “My Old Kentucky Home.”
Those last words are the title of a song written by Stephen Foster that is now the official state song of Kentucky. The original lyrics started thusly:
“The sun shines bright in the old Kentucky home,
‘Tis summer, the darkies are gay;”
This song was written in 1853 and adopted as the state song in 1928. Its lyrics were not officially revised until 1986, when the word “darkies” was replaced by the word “people.” That means that there was a fifty-eight year period where people singing the state song of Kentucky would have had to say the words, “the darkies are gay.”
But it’s a fine song and there’s no reason it shouldn’t be on a quarter. I’m definitely supportive of references to music of any kind on our currency. It feels slightly… very slightly… revolutionary. For currency to acknowledge anything other than presidents and monuments is what is exciting about the possibilities of the state quarter series. (It’s an excitement that is completely squandered in the new series of nickels, where the Mint takes us through a tour of… all the presidents of the United States! As if this group of forty-three or so old men haven’t gotten their faces circulated enough.)
This quarter is just average. Horses can make fine symbols, but there are so many intriguing poses and angles from which to depict a horse, and I would have to say that “profile of the horse while he stands stiffly and looks straight ahead” is not one of them. The artist of this scene makes the horse seem as lifeless as a children’s toy. And also, the mansion behind the horse comes off looking like a dollhouse. A scene that could have illustrated the stately grandeur of the rich southern whites of Kentucky comes off looking instead like a drawing from a children’s book.
Now, let’s just think what could have been. This is the quarter for Kentucky, so you have to put a racehorse on there. But why not depict the racehorse actually, I don’t know, RACING? You could have had a scene from the Kentucky Derby, where several horses are tearing up the track, hooves all akimbo,
jockeys spurning them on, with genteel people in the stands throwing their old-timey hats in the air. You could have had Secritariat, breaking away from the pack. Would that have been too exciting for a quarter? It’s just a thought. Just because we’re etching onto metal doesn’t mean everything has to look like it’s cold and frozen. When I look at a state’s quarter, I want to feel like I’m in that state. I want to ache with a yearning to actually go and visit that state. This quarter does not do that.
