American Women Quarters Value: 5 Coins to Check
What Bessie Coleman, Jovita Idar, Anna May Wong, Maria Tallchief, and Wilma Mankiller quarters are worth, and which mint mark actually pays a premium.
Find a quarter with a woman other than Lady Liberty on the back and it is almost certainly from the American Women Quarters Program, minted 2022 through 2025. Most are worth exactly 25 cents. A specific mint mark on a specific design is the one thing that changes that.
What is the American Women Quarters Program?
The American Women Quarters Program is a US Mint series (2022-2025) putting notable American women on the reverse of the Washington quarter, with George Washington’s portrait remaining on the obverse. Like every clad quarter struck since 1965, these coins carry no silver content, full stop, regardless of the design on the back.
The program released five new reverse designs a year from the Philadelphia and Denver mints for circulation, plus limited proof and uncirculated versions sold directly to collectors, plus a smaller number of West Point business strikes mixed into circulation on purpose.
The 5 coins worth checking your change for
| Design | Year | Who she was | Value tier to look for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wilma Mankiller | 2022 | First woman elected Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation | Common P/D: face value. W-mint: modest premium |
| Anna May Wong | 2022 | First Chinese American Hollywood film star | Common P/D: face value. W-mint: modest to solid premium, strong collector demand |
| Bessie Coleman | 2023 | First Black woman and first Native American woman to hold a pilot’s license | Common P/D: face value. W-mint: modest premium |
| Jovita Idar | 2023 | Journalist and civil rights advocate on the Texas-Mexico border | Common P/D: face value. W-mint: modest premium |
| Maria Tallchief | 2023 | America’s first major prima ballerina, first Native American to hold that rank | Common P/D: face value. W-mint: modest premium |
Treat every number in that right column as a collector-market range, not investment advice, and always check current eBay sold listings before assuming a coin is worth a specific figure.
Who this list is NOT for: if you are hoping a common Philadelphia or Denver strike from pocket change is secretly valuable because of the design, this series will disappoint you. The reverse artwork does not drive value on modern clad coinage; mintage and mint mark do.
Why five designs a year instead of one?
The program follows the same release pattern the Mint used for State Quarters and America the Beautiful quarters before it: five new reverse designs released roughly every ten to eleven weeks across a calendar year, keeping collector interest active throughout the program rather than concentrated around a single annual release. Across the full 2022-2025 run that adds up to twenty different honorees, each getting their own Philadelphia, Denver, and limited West Point mintage, plus separate proof and uncirculated collector versions sold directly by the Mint. That structure is worth knowing if you are trying to build a complete set, since it means twenty distinct designs to track rather than a handful.
What does the W mint mark actually mean?
A W mint mark, tiny and stamped on the obverse near the rim, means the coin was struck at West Point. Since 2019 the Mint has deliberately mixed small numbers of West Point business-strike quarters into circulation, specifically to get people roll hunting again. Because the release quantities are a fraction of the Philadelphia and Denver totals, a genuine W quarter found in change or a bank roll is the one legitimately scarce outcome in this entire program.
Check the obverse below Washington’s portrait, near the date, with a loupe. No mint mark or a P or D means common. A W means it is worth pulling and researching before you spend it.
How do these compare to state quarters or America the Beautiful quarters?
The same way. State Quarters (1999-2008) and America the Beautiful quarters (2010-2021) followed the identical pattern: mass mintage for circulation, common in change, with value concentrated in errors and, for the more recent series, the West Point strikes. If your interest is error varieties rather than mint marks, our state quarter errors guide covers the doubled dies and off-center strikes collectors actually pay for across all of these programs.
Are proof and uncirculated sets worth buying directly from the Mint?
The Mint sells proof sets, silver proof sets, and uncirculated coin sets containing each year’s American Women Quarters designs directly to collectors, generally at a price above face value that covers the specialized minting process and packaging. These sets are a reliable way to get pristine examples of every design without hunting through change, and silver proof versions, struck in 90% silver rather than the standard clad alloy used for circulation, carry genuine metal content on top of the collector premium. They are not, however, an investment in the sense of expecting the set to appreciate quickly; treat the purchase price as what it is, a premium for convenience and condition, not a discount on future value.
Could my quarter be gold instead of silver-gray?
Some circulated quarters pick up a brassy or gold tint from a vending machine or sorting-machine coating rather than any special minting. That coloring is a separate phenomenon from the American Women Quarters series and does not add design-based value on its own. Our gold-colored quarter guide explains what is actually happening to the coin’s surface and when, if ever, it is worth more than face value.
What should you actually do with these quarters?
Sort your change for the W mint mark first; it is the only detail on this series worth a second look. If you find one, do not spend it, and do not clean it, since cleaning strips the surface collectors pay for. From there, our guide to selling old coins walks through where a genuine W-mint find gets you a fair price instead of getting lost in a bulk lot on a marketplace. Everything else, common P and D strikes with no mint mark surprise, spends exactly like any other quarter in your pocket.
Frequently asked questions
Quick answers to what readers ask us most
Are American Women Quarters worth anything above face value?
Ordinary circulated examples from Philadelphia or Denver are worth 25 cents, the same as any other clad quarter. Uncirculated rolls carry a small premium, and West Point W-mint business strikes are the design's genuine collector-market value driver.
What is a W mint mark quarter and why does it matter?
It marks a coin struck at the West Point Mint and deliberately released into circulation in limited numbers rather than sold only in collector sets. Scarcity, not the woman depicted, is what makes a W quarter worth checking your change for.
Is the Anna May Wong quarter rare?
The standard Philadelphia and Denver strikes are common, minted in the hundreds of millions. A West Point W-mint Anna May Wong quarter is the scarce version worth searching rolls for, since she was the first Asian American honored on US currency and demand for her coin runs a bit higher than some others in the series.
Where can I check current prices for these quarters?
Sold listings on eBay give the most current read on what collectors are actually paying, since asking prices and sold prices diverge a lot on modern series. See our guide to selling old coins for how to read those listings correctly.