The Connecticut charter tree and the Georgia peach will soon have to compete for pocket space with the Massachusetts man and his musket.

In early February, the Massachusetts state quarter should enter circulation. The coin marks the state’s participation in the US Mint’s “Commemorative Quarter” series, which is responsible for all those strange-looking coins that have started to turn up in change. The Massachusetts coin depicts a Minuteman, rifle at the ready. In the background is an outline of the state, with a star marking Boston’s location. The slogan “The Bay State” splashes, appropriately enough, in Massachusetts Bay.

This image was selected over two other proposed designs, one showing the USS Constitution at sea, the other depicting Boston Light, the first lighthouse in America.

The Mint began releasing the customized coins, producing them in the order the states joined the Union, in 1999. New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Georgia, and Delaware were the first states to be given their two-bits. The Mint will release five new quarters a year until 2008.

Massachusetts is in the second round, along with South Carolina, Maryland, New Hampshire, and Virginia. Because of their value as collectibles, the commemorative coins are expected to generate between $2.6 billion and $5.1 billion in revenue for the Treasury over the next ten years.