16 September 2022
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The United States Mint has announced the designs for the second year of the American Women Quarters coin series, with former first lady Eleanor Roosevelt and civil aviator Bessie Coleman amongst those set to be honoured.
The four-year programme, which began in 2022, features coins with reverse designs ‘emblematic of the accomplishments and contributions of trailblazing American women’. In all, twenty coins will be issued, five in each year.
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The full list of honourees is:
- Bessie Coleman, the first Native American to hold a pilot license
- American journalist, teacher, political activist, and civil rights worker, Jovita Idar
- Hawaiian dancer, and teacher Edith Kanaka’ole
- Former first lady of the USA Eleanor Roosevelt
- American ballerina, Maria Tallchief, the first Native American to be considered America’s ‘prima ballerina’
Mint Director Ventris C. Gibson said:
‘I am pleased to announce the designs of the 2023 American Women Quarters. These beautiful designs honour the achievements of these amazing women and add to the Mint’s rich history of rendering the history of our Nation in enduring examples of numismatic art.’
The common obverse design of all coins in the four-year series is by Laura Gardin Fraser, one of the most prolific female sculptors of the early 20th century.
Fraser’s design depicts a portrait of George Washington, which she originally composed and sculpted as a candidate to mark George Washington’s 200th birthday.