By Charles Morgan and Hubert Walker for CoinWeek Notes …..
Between 2022 and 2025, the reverse of the quarter celebrated the lives and legacies of historically and culturally important American women, and the 2022-D Wilma Mankiller Quarter was part of the third release in the series. Authorized by Public Law 116-330, the American Women Quarters Program mandated designs “emblematic of the accomplishments and contributions of one prominent woman of the United States, and may include contributions to the United States in a wide spectrum of accomplishments and field, including but not limited to suffrage, civil rights, abolition, government, humanities, science, space, and arts, and should honor women from ethnically, racially, and geographically diverse backgrounds.”
Collectors have shown surprising enthusiasm for yet another multi-year, multi-reverse quarter dollar program. This may be due to the interesting honorees the United States Mint selected from a number of candidates it invited the public to recommend. The women reflect a wide range of accomplishments, from actors to scientists, and from civil rights leaders to historic firsts in important fields. Or it may be due to the overall artistic excellence of the designs, some of which (like the 2023 Jovita Idar Quarter) represent blazingly innovative work.
Of the five distinguished women honored on the circulating commemorative quarters of 2022–Maya Angelou, Sally Ride, Wilma Mankiller, Nina Otero-Warren, and Anna May Wong–the Mankiller Quarters stand out for the inclusion of Cherokee script, which also appears only on the 2017 Native American Dollar honoring Sequoyah, the creator of the Cherokee syllabary (the 2008 Code Talkers Cherokee Nation Congressional Gold Medal also features the script, but it’s not a legal tender coin).
Wilma Mankiller – Life and Legacy
Wilma Mankiller was born on November 18, 1945, in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. After a severe drought in the area, her family moved to California in 1956 but were unable to find stable job opportunities.
After she graduated high school in June 1963, Mankiller married and started a family with Hector Hugo Olaya, a wealthy college student from Ecuador. Now a young mother, Mankiller became interested in the anti-war movement and civil rights for women and ethnic minorities.
Unfortunately, the marriage didn’t last. Divorcing in 1974, Mankiller stayed in California to work on Indian issues for two years before returning to Oklahoma. Once back, she continued her education, found work in the tribal offices, and suffered a series of health setbacks – finding direction in what she called in a 1993 NPR interview the “Cherokee approach to life.”
Over time, Mankiller became more involved in tribal community development projects, raising millions of dollars of grants to improve lives in her community. She was elected Deputy Chief in 1983, facing stiff opposition from the male members of the tribal council. Regardless, Mankiller pushed for improvements on several pressing issues and she won re-election in 1985.
In that year, Chief Ross Swimmer was appointed Assistant Secretary of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, which meant that Mankiller succeeded Swimmer as the first female Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation. She held this position for two-and-a-half terms, declining to seek re-election in 1995 due to her health issues. Mankiller’s time as Principal Chief proved successful, and many initiatives she introduced and oversaw significantly benefited the Cherokee Nation.
After her tenure as Chief, she remained active in social causes. Mankiller was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame in 1993, and President William “Bill” Clinton awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1998.
Wilma Mankiller died in 2010 at the too-young age of 64.
Production of the 2022 Wilma Mankiller Quarter
The Wilma Mankiller American Women Quarter was officially released on June 6, 2022. United States Mint Artistic Infusion Program (AIP) artist Benjamin Sowards designed the reverse and Mint Medallic Artist Phebe Hemphill sculpted it. Facing right, Mankiller stands on the left, with the seven-pointed star of the Cherokee Nation in the field and her title superimposed over her torso in both English and Cherokee.
Business-strike 2022 Wilma Mankiller Quarters were produced at the Philadelphia, Denver, and San Francisco mints. Only Philadelphia and Denver coins were released into circulation; San Francisco business strikes were sold exclusively to collectors at a premium.
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2022-D Wilma Mankiller American Women Quarter Market Data and Noteworthy Specimens
The online auction site eBay is effectively the only true measure of the ultra-modern coin market, and recent sales of raw 2022-D Wilma Mankiller American Women Quarters demonstrate that collectors are comfortable paying $2 to $3 dollars for a decent example. There is always much speculation when it comes to error coins, and prices swing radically for such uncertified circulated pieces.
At the time of this writing in January 2025, not enough certified examples had been sold in the last few months to make any useful conclusions about price.
Top Population: PCGS MS68 (14, 1/2025), NGC MS69 (43, 1/2025), and CACG N/A (0, 1/2025).
- PCGS MS67: eBay, October 27, 2024, Lot 364082917739 – $39.95. First Day of Issue on insert.
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Design
Obverse:
The American Women Quarters feature an obverse design of Founding Father George Washington that sculptor Laura Gardin Fraser designed in 1931. Washington’s head faces to the right. The word LIBERTY wraps clockwise around the top of the design, with the bottom of the letters BER slightly obstructed by the top of Washington’s head. The motto IN GOD WE TRUST appears in thin tall letters to the left. The 2022 date and D mintmark appear on the lower right side of the design, tucked under Washington’s chin. Gardin Fraser’s initials LGF are found in the truncation of Washington’s neck.
Reverse:
Wilma Mankiller, depicted from the waist up, faces to the right. Her hair is flowing as the wind is at her back. Mankiller is wrapped in a tribal shawl and she is wearing a long beaded necklace. Northern Oklahoma Cherokee tribal land is seen in the distance. In the foreground is the seven-pointed star of the Cherokee Nation. Superimposed over Mankiller, in three descending lines, are the inscriptions WILMA MANKILLER / PRINCIPAL CHIEF / ᏣᎳᎩᎯ ᎠᏰᎵ. ᏣᎳᎩᎯ ᎠᏰᎵ transliterates to Tsa-la-gi-hi A-ye-li (“Cherokee Nation”). The legend UNITED STATES OF AMERICA curves clockwise around the top of the rim, while the motto E PLURIBUS UNUM and the denomination QUARTER DOLLAR curve counterclockwise around the bottom rim. Designer Benjamin Sowards’ initials BS are found on the left side on the bottom of Mankiller’s shawl, and sculptor Phebe Hemphill’s initials PH are found on the right side near the bottom of the coin, among the long, flowing fringe.
Edge:
Like all coins in the American Women Quarters Program, the edge of the 2022 Wilma Mankiller Quarter is reeded.
Designers
Laura Gardin Fraser was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1889. After receiving an education at the Columbia University and later at the Art Students League of New York, where she studied under her future husband James Earle Fraser. Laura Gardin Fraser died in 1966. In 2022, the portrait of George Washington that she submitted for the Washington Quarter replaced John Flanagan’s long-running portrait (submitted in the same competition) for the duration of the American Women Quarters Program.
Artistic Infusion Program (AIP) artist Benjamin Sowards studied at Brigham Young University and Laguna College of Art and Design. He is known for his portraiture and fully painted book illustrations – including the Leven Thumps series of young adult fantasy novels. He has taught as Director of the Illustration Program at Southern Utah University since 2001.
Designer Phebe Hemphill joined the Mint in 2006, and since that time has become one of the nation’s most prolific coin designers (View Designer’s Profile).
2022-D Wilma Mankiller American Women Quarter Coin Specifications
| Country: | United States of America |
| Year of Issue: | 2022 |
| Denomination: | Quarter Dollar (25 Cents USD) |
| Mintmark: | D (Denver) |
| Mintage: | 296,800,000 |
| Alloy: | Outer layers of .750 copper, .250 nickel bonded to a pure copper core |
| Weight: | 5.67 g |
| Diameter: | 24.30 mm |
| Edge: | Reeded |
| OBV Designer: | Laura Gardin Fraser |
| REV Designer: | Benjamin Sowards | Phebe Hemphill |
| Quality: | Business Strike |
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