By Charles Morgan and Hubert Walker for CoinWeek Notes …..
Officially released on March 22, 2022, the 2022-P Sally Ride American Women Quarter was the second coin released in the 20-coin series. Congress authorized the American Women Quarters Program with Public Law 116-330 (PDF link) in early 2021, with each of the four years from 2022 through 2025 featuring five different reverse designs celebrating the legacies and accomplishments of historically significant women. In the context of the quarter-dollar denomination itself, the series is modeled on the successful 50 State Quarters and America the Beautiful National Park Quarters programs and immediately follows the Washington Crossing the Delaware one-year reverse type of 2021.
The United States Mint announced the first two women to be honored in the program–author Maya Angelou and astronaut Dr. Sally Ride–on April 14, 2021. The remaining three–Wilma Mankiller, Nina Otero-Warren, and Anna May Wong–were announced in October.
The Mint began shipping the circulating commemorative quarters to banks on March 21, 2022. Bags and rolls of the 2022-P Sally Ride American Women Quarter were made available for purchase starting on the official day of release. It is also included in the 2022 United States Mint Uncirculated Coin Set, which went on sale July 12, 2022, for an initial retail price of $25.25.
Who Was Sally Ride and Why Is She on the Quarter?
Dr. Ride was the first American woman to orbit the Earth. Her June 18, 1983, mission on board Space Shuttle Challenger came one year after Soviet cosmonaut Svetlana Savitskaya became the first woman to fly to a space station, and 20 years after Valentina Tershkova completed 48 orbits around the earth on board Vostok 6, becoming the first woman in space.
A lifelong scientist and educator, Ride devoted a considerable amount of her post-NASA career to promoting women in the STEM (Science-Technology-Engineering-Math) industries alongside her life partner Tam O’Shaughnessy.
Incidentally, the 2022-P Sally Ride Quarter entered circulation the year after the release of a silver dollar commemorative coin honoring educator-astronaut Christa McAuliffe, who was one of seven astronauts whose lives were lost as a result of January 26, 1986 Challenger disaster.
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Market Data and Noteworthy Specimens
With the series only a year away from completion, collectors have shown surprising enthusiasm for the American Women Quarters, considering that this is the third go-round for a multi-year, multi-reverse quarter program in 25 years. The Mint’s honoree selection process (perhaps taking a note from the Women on 20s movement) was open to the public online, and as such the women featured on the coins have been an interesting mix of historical figures–many of them alive in our lifetimes and recorded on video that we can view today. The designs have been almost uniformly strong and a few have been groundbreaking.
As of December 2024, NGC reports 2,018 grading events for the 2022-P Sally Ride Quarter, most of which are certified MS66 (1,093) and MS67 (661). There is only one top pop MS69 specimen listed and 230 coins graded MS68.
For their part, PCGS reports 1,049 total grading events, with one in the top pop grade of MS68. Like NGC, most of the PCGS-certified pieces are graded MS66 (488), but MS65 (326) and MS67 (245) aren’t far behind.
Relatively new to the full-service grading industry, CAC Grading has yet to grade any.
Raw coins on eBay have sold in the last few months for between $1 and $2.50. Error coins like the “Ghost Comet” variety can sell for a little more. Or a lot more; when it comes to uncertified mint errors, eBay might as well be the “Wild West”.
Top Population: PCGS MS68 (1, 12/2024), NGC MS69 (7, 12/2024), and CAC N/A (none graded, 12/2024).
- NGC MS68: eBay, September 25, 2024, Lot 315758648385 – $30. Two bids. Early Releases on insert. American Leaders – George Washington label (#565, bulk submissions).
- NGC BRILLIANT UNCIRCULATED #6560436-011: eBay, November 30, 2024, Lot 186803865244 – $6.50. Two bids. First Day of Issue on insert. American Women – 2022 label (#1828, retired).
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Coin Design
Obverse:
The common obverse of all American Women Quarters depicts the right-facing portrait of George Washington originally sculpted by artist Laura Gardin Fraser to mark Washington’s 200th birthday. Though her work was a recommended design for the 1932 quarter, then-Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon ultimately selected the familiar design by John Flanagan.
The word LIBERTY wraps clockwise around the rim above Washington’s head. The motto IN GOD / WE / TRUST is divided into three lines to his left, and the date 2022 and P mintmark are below his chin in descending order. Laura Gardin Fraser’s initials LGF are in the truncation of Washington’s neck on the left.
Reverse:
The reverse depicts Sally Ride in her NASA flight suit standing in front of a port window with a view of Earth’s Western Hemisphere. The legend UNITED STATES OF AMERICA wraps clockwise around the top half of the design and the denomination QUARTER DOLLAR and DR. SALLY RIDE run counterclockwise along the bottom. Each inscription is divided from the others by a relatively large dot, for a total of three. The motto E PLURIBUS UNUM is in the field to the right of Dr. Ride, inscribed in three centered lines.
Artistic Infusion Program (AIP) Artist Elana Hagler created the design and Mint Medallic Artist Phebe Hemphill sculpted it. The initials EH are placed between the “Q” in QUARTER and Dr. Ride’s right shoulder (viewer’s left). Hemphill’s italicized initials PH are on the bottom-right of the coin, off the coast of Peru, touching both the “S” in SALLY and Dr. Ride’s left arm.
Edge:
The edge of the 2022-P Sally Ride Quarter is reeded with 119 reeds.
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.
A new participant in the Mint’s Artistic Infusion Program, Elana Hagler teaches art at Alabama State University.
Medallic Artist 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-P Sally Ride American Women Quarter Coin Specifications
| Country: | United States of America |
| Year of Issue: | 2022 |
| Denomination: | Quarter Dollar (25 Cents USD) |
| Mintmark: | P (Philadelphia) |
| Mintage: | 275,200,000 |
| Alloy: | .750 copper, .250 nickel outer layers bonded to pure copper inner core |
| Weight: | 5.67 g |
| Diameter: | 24.26 mm |
| Edge: | Reeded |
| OBV Designer: | Laura Gardin Fraser |
| REV Designer: | Elena Hagler (design) | Phebe Hemphill (sculpt) |
| Quality: | Business Strike |
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