I’ve had some further thoughts, Major D, about what you said in your comment regarding the unanticipated negative surprise and overall disappointment of finding that what is being trumpeted as true American Innovation has pretty much ended up being on the boring side. Considering our nation has come up with more new ideas on so many fronts and levels than likely any other country in history and around the world, how indeed did the Mint ever conjure up such a generally lackluster list of State achievements for this multiyear dollar coin set? Part of a the shame regarding this is the sheer length of the release; eleven years is far too long to stretch out a series like this that doesn’t seem likely to ever really catch on.

The Brooklyn Bridge is a good one, though for iconic New York masterpieces it’s given a run for the money by the Chrysler Building. As for the subway, unless I’m sorely mistaken Boston beat New York to the punch in that particular regard.

or how about the Brooklyn Bridge or subway system? a lot of innovation there.

And now we’re getting down to brass tacks here, Major D, with “names being named” so to speak, and I agree that as per your excellent example the Niagara Falls Power Plant is much more of a unique innovation than a typical, ordinary Volga-like canal. I also like the idea of tall buildings for the Illinois coins, most especially so because Chicago is the birthplace of the skyscraper. And what could possibly be more California-esque than motion pictures.

I think you hit it right on the head, Major D, as to what the drawback is of these “Innovation” coins; it’s not at all clear or obvious, at least from those we’ve seen so far, that each state’s most impactful development was in fact the one chosen.

Kaiser, I’m almost there with you but am still hanging on expecting something to catch on—but it really seems like this series is just ho-hum. Who would have thought American innovation would be so boring?

Yes, agree about NY’s canal. I think a much better innovation on the coin would have been the Niagra Falls hydroelectric plant. Who exactly is voting on this or making the decision?

Illinois in 2024 should have the skyscraper. And I look for California (in 2026?) to have the cinema/motion picture industry.

Good point, c_q. It’s almost as if some of the states are reverting to the types of themes that were chosen due to their “local” prominence for the State Quarters when in fact that isn’t really the thrust of this new dollar series at all. By the way, for any number of reasons I bailed on these Innovation Dollars as of last year.

yes I have noticed that also. sure there are the clearly defined inventions like airplanes and telephones you can tie to a specific state because of the development being done by a small group of people. I have a harder time with inventions/innovations that are large in nature and unlikely to be developed primarily in one state, such as maryland’s space telescope claim. But the ones I really dislike are ones that aren’t even really innovations at all, like new york’s canal boat coin – give me a break those boats are copies of what has been running around canals for centuries before that.

I would think this is true of so many “innovations” that this dollar series is commemorating, as over the lifetime of our country many ideas, concepts and developments underwent birth and growth in more than one state simultaneously, likely with a multitude of variations and at a different pace, with all of that creative ingenuity and subsequent productivity sooner or later touching other instances of it geographically and thereby coming to a sort of combined fruition.