Back in 1999, I was excited by the then-new Statehood Quarters series. For ten years, The US Mint made five different designs each year for the reverse side of the quarter dollar coin, resulting in one for each of the 50 US states in the order they were admitted to the Union. I still probably have a cardboard folder with all the states somewhere. I lost interest during the subsequent US Territories series, and was only vaguely aware of the America the Beautiful series that followed through 2021. However, one quarter we received in our change at the library stood out the moment I saw it, and I had to investigate.
Apparently, this is the first in a new series of American Women quarters to commemorate the centennial of the 19th Amendment. Of course, since I reject the presumed authority of democracy, I am not convinced adding more people to a flawed structure is worth commemoration. Additionally, according to Wikipedia, "Some coin collectors were critical of the 'seemingly unending' proposal to continue to issue five new quarter designs every year for a third decade. Many numismatists are more interested in redesigns of other denominations and less frequent releases." I concur.
They changed the obverse (front) design for the first time in almost a century to highlight a design from a woman in 1931. It is definitely less detailed than the one it replaced. It may hold up better to wear, though. Of course, they didn't restore the 90% silver composition we had in 1931. That ended in 1964, because the ambitions of government cannot tolerate the restraint of hard money based on a commodity. I can't say I'm a fan of any US quarter obverse designs, really, but can't we return to some personification of lady liberty instead of deifying dead presidents?
For the reverse, 2022 coins are scheduled to include this Maya Angelou example, astronaut Sally Ride, Cherokee activist Wilma Mankiller, suffragette Nina Otero-Warren, and actress Anna May Wong. Naturally, I have my own suggestions for 2023, but I doubt they will happen. Laura Ingalls Wilder has been subjected to some cancel culture nonsense. her daughter Rose Wilder Lane is too much of an unknown writer. Voltairine de Cleyre is far too anti-State, and Emma Goldman may be a more prominent in the early feminist movement, but she was also deported by the US for being too subversive. Then again, they created a federal holiday for Martin Luther King Jr. after the FBI tried to get him to commit suicide, so who knows? Oh, and for the fifth slot, I'm not a huge fan of Ayn Rand, but the outrage at her commemoration would be entertaining.
What do you think of this latest collector hype, and who would you like to see on future US quarters? Comment below!
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