Five finalists for Washington state quarter

There's fish and fruit, but no Bigfoot, among the finalists for Washington state's new quarter.

The state Quarter Advisory Commission today announced that, among 1,500 essays submitted for design of the quarter, five have been forwarded to the U.S. Mint, which will draw images of the design offerings.

The five are:

• A salmon, Mount Rainier and an apple within an outline of Washington State.

• An apple within the outline of Washington State.

• An outline of Washington State with Mount Rainier centered.

• A salmon breaching the water with Mount Rainier as a backdrop.

• A Northwest Native American rendition of an orca whale.

The Mint will make mock-up drawings of the submissions — each idea may have more than one mock-up — and send them back to the state in December. The commission will come up with five finalists from those drawings and, in April, will post them online for a public vote.

Gov. Christine Gregoire will make the final decision.

The new quarter, the 42nd in a series commemorating the states of the Union, is scheduled for release in spring 2007.

The quarters are being released five per year, based on when each state entered the union.

Susan Gilmore: 206-464-2054 or sgilmore@seattletimes.com