By Charles Morgan and Hubert Walker for CoinWeek Notes …..
From 2022 through 2025, the quarter dollar coin–which has not had a consistent reverse design year-to-year since 1998–is the canvas used to celebrate many accomplished women that have made a mark throughout American history. Congress authorized the American Women Quarters Program with Public Law 116-330, which 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.”
From a numismatic standpoint, the program has proven to be a spectacular success. The honorees reflect a wide range of accomplishments, from movie stars to scientists, from civil rights leaders to women who were historic firsts in important fields. A number of the designs have been experimental and visionary.
The United States Mint honored five distinguished women in 2022: Maya Angelou, Sally Ride, Wilma Mankiller, Nina Otero-Warren, and Anna May Wong.
Wilma Mankiller – Legacy of Leadership
Wilma Mankiller was born to Cherokee parents on November 18, 1945, in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. A severe drought brought her family to California in 1956, where her parents struggled financially, moving from town to town hoping to find more stable opportunities.
Once she graduated high school in June 1963, Mankiller married Hector Hugo Olaya, a wealthy Ecuadorian college student, and started a family. As a young mother, she took an interest in activism and became involved in the anti-war movement and promoting the civil rights of women and ethnic minorities.
After divorcing Olaya in 1974, Mankiller remained in California, working on Indian issues for two years before returning to Oklahoma in 1976. There, she continued her education, found work in the tribal offices, and suffered a series of health setbacks. Through this adversity, Mankiller found direction in embracing what she called in a 1993 NPR interview, “a Cherokee approach to life.”
Mankiller became more involved in tribal community development projects, raising millions of dollars of grants to improve the lives of her community. In 1983, she campaigned for and was elected Deputy Chief, defeating Perry Wheeler, a funeral director. In that position, she faced stiff opposition from the male members of the tribal council, who were dismissive of Mankiller because of her sex. Despite this, Mankiller pushed for improvements on several pressing issues and the tribe re-elected her in 1985.
That year, Chief Ross Swimmer was appointed Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs. Mankiller succeeded Swimmer as the first female principal chief of the Cherokee Nation. She held the position for two-and-a-half terms and decided to not seek re-election in 1995 due to health issues. Mankiller’s tenure as Principal Chief proved successful, and many initiatives she introduced and/or oversaw significantly benefited the Cherokee Nation.
In her later years, she remained active in social causes. Mankiller was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame in 1993, and in 1998, President Bill Clinton bestowed upon her the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Wilma Mankiller died in 2010 at age 64.
The Wilma Mankiller Quarter
Wilma Mankiller appeared on the third American Women Quarter issued in 2022, released on June 6. The reverse of Mankiller’s quarter was designed by United States Mint Artistic Infusion Program (AIP) artist Benjamin Sowards and sculpted by Mint Medallic Artist Phebe Hemphill. Mankiller appears at left, facing right, along with the seven-pointed star of the Cherokee Nation and her title in both English and Cherokee. This is the second use of Cherokee language on a U.S. coin, the first being the 2017 Native American Dollar honoring Sequoyah, the creator of the Cherokee syllabary (Cherokee also appears on the 2008 Code Talkers Cherokee Nation Congressional Gold Medal).
Business strikes were struck at the Philadelphia, Denver, and San Francisco mints. Only coins struck at Philadelphia and Denver were produced for commercial release; San Francisco business strikes were produced for the numismatic market and sold to collectors through the Mint’s website at a premium over face value.
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Market Data and Noteworthy Specimens
Recent 2022-P Wilma Mankiller American Women Quarter sales on eBay (November 2024) indicate that collectors are paying around $5 for raw examples. There is much speculation focused on error coins, and prices can jump radically for uncertified circulated pieces; favorites include the “die cud in hair” and “Drooling Washington”. At the time of this update, no certified specimens had been sold on eBay in the last three months.
Top Population: PCGS MS67 (98, 11/2024), NGC MS69 (19, 11/2024), and CACG N/A (0:0 stickered:graded, 11/2024).
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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 date and 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-P Wilma Mankiller American Women Quarter Coin Specifications
| Country: | United States of America |
| Year of Issue: | 2022 |
| Denomination: | Quarter Dollar (25 Cents USD) |
| Mintmark: | P (Philadelphia) |
| Mintage: | 310,000,000 |
| 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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