By Charles Morgan and Hubert Walker for CoinWeek Notes ….
The Anna May Wong American Women Quarter was released on October 25, 2022, the fifth coin in the series and the fifth coin in the 20-coin American Women Quarters program’s first year. Authorized by Public Law 116-330 (PDF link), the series began in 2022 and will continue through 2025, with each year seeing five new reverse designs commemorating the achievements and legacies of historically and culturally significant women. It follows the successful 50 State Quarters and America the Beautiful National Park Quarters programs and the Washington Crossing the Delaware one-year reverse type of 2021.
Anna May Wong – Chinese American Hollywood Icon
Anna May Wong (Wong Liu Tsong) was born January 3, 1905 in Los Angeles, California, to second-generation Chinese immigrants and would go on to become the first female Asian American star in Hollywood. Living in L.A. as the motion picture industry was transplanted to the area, Wong became enchanted by the nickelodeons and early cinema as a young child–so enamored, in fact, that she was only 11 years old when she created her stage name “Anna May Wong”. She started working as a film extra as a teenager and soon decided to drop out of high school to pursue acting as a profession.
She received her first billing for the silent film Bits of Life (1921) opposite Lon Chaney, and her first leading role in The Toll of the Sea (1922) when she was just 17. Her work garnered praise from critics and fans, but movie studios were averse to casting her in parts that matched her talents due to her ethnicity, so Anna May Wong was stuck in supporting roles that were usually “exotic” or stereotypical (i.e., the “dragon lady”). Such roles included her work in The Thief of Bagdad (1924) and Peter Pan (1924), though her performances in both were and still are noteworthy.
Wong did, however, star in The Dragon Horse (1927), which featured Asian American actors playing Asian parts. But that movie was funded by the Chinese government and Chinese American businesses and was a rare example of what could be done outside of the Hollywood system.
Disillusioned, and after an attempt to create her own film production company to make movies based on Chinese folklore fell through, Anna May Wong left America for Europe, where she made films like Piccadilly (1929)–her last silent, thought by some to be her finest–and The Flame of Love (1930), her first talkie. Not only was Flame her first talkie but she recorded her dialogue in three languages: English, German, and French.
Lured back to America with the promise of better roles, she found herself mistreated and misused yet again, though she never stopped fighting for more accurate representations of Chinese culture in her roles. She would perform in Shanghai Express (1932) starring Marlene Dietrich, arguably the peak of her Hollywood career.
Nevertheless, Wong continued to battle prejudice and stereotypes, finding roles in small-budget B-movies that provided the dignity and challenge so often missing from the prestige pieces. She also appeared on television and the stage. Anna May Wong died on February 3, 1961.
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Market Data and Noteworthy Specimens
Collectors have shown more interest in the American Women Quarters series than might be expected for yet another round of multi-year changing reverses. Part of the appeal may be that these designs depict people instead of landscapes or buildings, but the women featured on their respective quarters also have interesting stories and the designs have sometimes been highly innovative.
The Mint began shipping 2022-P and 2022-D Anna May Wong Quarters to banks on October 24, with the public being able to obtain rolls of coins sometime in late October or early November. Otherwise, the Mint made Anna May Wong Quarter product options available for purchase on October 25, the official day of release. These products included 100-coin bags of uncirculated business strike quarters (P or D), which were sold for $40.00 each ($43.10 in 2024 inflation-adjusted dollars); a two-roll set consisting of one roll each from Philadelphia and Denver for a total of 80 coins, which sold for $36.00 ($38.79 adjusted); and a three-roll set of P-, D-, and S-mint quarters, which sold for $54.00 ($58.18 adjusted).
At the time of publication in November 2024, NGC reports a total of 1,120 grading events. There are three top-pop MS69 pieces and 146 coins graded MS68. The Mint State grade with the highest population is 67, with 604 reported.
As for PCGS, there are 449 total grading events reported for the 2022-P Anna May Wong Quarter, all in Mint State. The majority of the PCGS census comes in at MS66 (200), but there are 117 reported at the top pop of MS67.
CAC Grading has neither stickered nor certified any examples of the 2022-D Anna May Wong Quarter.
Raw, uncirculated coins have sold recently for an average of $1.50 on eBay. Coins with errors, no matter how trivial, usually sell for more money.
Top Population: PCGS MS67 (117, 11/2024), NGC MS69 (3, 11/2024), and CAC N/A (0:0 stickered:graded, 11/2024).
- NGC MS67: eBay, September 30, 2024, Lot 126694560267 – $20. American Women – 2022 label (#1828).
- PCGS MS67: eBay, September 25, 2024, Lot 386565870213 – $39.95. First Day of Issue label.
- NGC MS67: eBay, August 31, 2024, Lot 186655080094 – $2.25. American Women – 2022 label (#1828).
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Design
Obverse:
Instead of a version of John Flanagan’s bust of George Washington that has been on the front of the quarter since 1932, the common obverse of all American Women Quarters depicts a portrait of Washington originally sculpted by 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 Flanagan design.
Reverse:
The reverse features a close-up of Anna May Wong’s face as she appeared in her heyday of the late 1920s to early ’30s, her chin resting on her elegant left hand. To the left is her name ANNA MAY WONG in three lines. Surrounding the central motif is a marquee sign, replete with dots that resemble light bulbs. Running clockwise along the top of the marquee is the legend UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. The denomination QUARTER DOLLAR is below Ms. Wong, and in a separate line beneath that is the motto E PLURIBUS UNUM.
Mint Artistic Infusion Program artist Emily Damstra created the design; her initials ESD are located on the left of the interior space of the coin. Mint Medallic Artist John P. McGraw sculpted the design; his initials JPM are found on Anna May Wong’s hand.
Below is a video from the United States Mint discussing the 2022-P American Women Anna May Wong Quarter:
Edge:
The edge of the 2022-P Anna May Wong 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.
Emily Damstra has worked as a freelance science illustrator in a variety of media. She has a Masters in Fine Arts in Science Illustration from the University of Michigan and has designed several coins for the Royal Canadian Mint (View Designer’s Profile).
John P. McGraw graduated from Rutgers University Camden and worked as a sculptor at Carolfi Studios in Philadelphia before joining the Mint in 2014. He became an official Medallic Artist in 2020.
Coin Specifications
| Country: | United States of America |
| Year of Issue: | 2022 |
| Denomination: | Quarter Dollar (25 Cents USD) |
| Mintmark: | P (Philadelphia) |
| Mintage: | 226,800,000 |
| Alloy: | Outer layers of .750 copper, .250 nickel bonded to pure copper inner core |
| Weight: | 5.67 g |
| Diameter: | 24.26 mm |
| Edge: | Reeded |
| OBV Designer: | Laura Gardin Fraser |
| REV Designer: | Emily Damstra | John P. McGraw |
| Quality: | Business Strike |
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