In a place awash in imagery and tropical icons, it's difficult for residents to select just one to represent Hawai'i on the state's new quarter.

So rather than an icon that may edge dangerously close to a cliche, let's choose a symbol that carries some weight and offers the opportunity to tell others a little about our heritage.

Five general themes emerged from the Hawai'i Commemorative Coin Commission discussions; three of them featured King Kamehameha as a central element.

A motif including the Islands' first monarch would convey the state's most distinctive characteristic: its history.

Kamehameha is himself steeped in controversy; as a warrior king, his goal of consolidating the island chain was accomplished through painful loss.

But his conquest left a deeper imprint on Hawai'i than any other single achievement. Without that event, Hawai'i may have more closely resembled the small confederations of the Pacific than the "loveliest fleet of islands" Mark Twain described, one that's interwoven its indigenous and multiethnic cultures.

Kamehameha's image already is seen by anyone who glimpses a visitors' bureau marker or anyone who's seen his statue in the U.S. Capitol, in Honolulu or on the Big Island.

It's especially appropriate to see the figure displayed against the backdrop of the archipelago; Hawai'i's status as an island state is another distinguishing mark.

The king's image may not be as instantly recognizable to other Americans as the hula dancer or the surfer, but it will occasion a "teaching moment" for kama'aina if it's minted on the commemorative quarter.