In matters of taste, there is no right or wrong answer. That doesn?t stop collectors from offering opinions. Life would be dull if they didn?t.
The current argument over taste seems to involve the Wyoming quarter design. I happen to like the bucking bronco. Others think it is childish or worse.
Even if a majority of collectors comes down on the side of dislike, it does not matter. What matters is what the people of Wyoming thought about it in making the selection. The design is supposed to represent their state. They think it does. That is why it exists.
Collectors, of course, have to decide whether to buy it, or seek it out of circulation. They can decide for themselves if they like it or not. What they cannot settle is whether it best reflects the people of the state of Wyoming. That decision has already been made and collectors who don?t like it are simply expressing a personal taste.
To greater and lesser degrees this sort of debate has happened with many of the other state quarter designs. Wisconsin comes to mind with its cow head, cheese wheel and corn stalk. I didn?t like the design. A plurality of the people who voted on it did. We have a winner. The people spoke and they liked bad art.
I can call it bad art because that is my personal taste. I cannot prove it is bad art anymore than someone can prove that it is good art.
What we can agree on, I hope, is that it represents the state of Wisconsin. Cows corn and cheese are pretty typical around here. They are representative of the state.
The design I like involved a canoe and French explorers and missionaries. It has been a long time since we have seen a French explorer paddle through here.
What conveys a better sense of Wisconsin that is recognizable to most people? Cows, corn and cheese, or French explorers in a birch bark canoes?
What is recognizable to the most people in Wyoming? The bucking bronco is a popularly used symbol in the state that is immediately recognizable to virtually everyone there.
But is it art? That is where we can offer opinions, debate, argue and yet still reach no definitive conclusions.
What we can offer is a sense of whether collectors are more likely to buy and collect the Wyoming quarter, or less likely to buy. We can to also consider whether design preferences have greater weight ,or whether the urge for a complete set that most collectors feel will simply overrule any reluctance to acquire it due to personal taste.
I enjoy the expressions of opinions about taste. I like to see the reasoning process at work. However, when it comes to art, we can count heads and say a certain percentage likes it and a certain other percentage dislikes it. Neither side is correct, but neither side is wrong, either.
I am reminded of the old joke of a patient being given a Rohrshach ink blot test. The patient finally exclaims, ?Don?t look at me that way. You?re the one with the collection of dirty pictures.?
Beauty and much more is in the eye of the beholder. Express your opinion of the Wyoming quarter design and let other collectors do the same. Send them here.
