2023-D American Women Jovita Idar Quarter : A Collector’s Guide

By Charles Morgan and Hubert Walker for CoinWeek Notes …..
 

The 2023-D American Women quarter honoring Jovita Idar was the fourth of five designs released in 2023 and the ninth issue overall. The coin honors the life and legacy of Jovita Idar, an educator, publisher, and lifelong advocate for the rights of Mexican Americans. Jovita Idar was born on September 7, 1885 into a family of civil rights activists. Her parents, Jovita Vivero and Nicasio Idar, were also engaged in the fight for the betterment of the lives of all Mexican Americans. As a teacher in a town not far from Laredo, Texas, Idar saw firsthand how impoverished the educational system was in that state’s racially segregated school system. In 1921, she established a free kindergarten for Mexican-American kids in San Antonio.

The Idar quarter references this lifelong advocacy by covering the form of Idar’s blouse with bilingual words of meaning. Along with the statutorily-mandated inscriptions, the quarter contains the following words and phrases: TEACHER, MEXICAN AMERICAN RIGHTS, NURSE, AVOLUCIÓN, ASTREA, CRISTIANO, LA CRUZ BLANCA, JOURNALISTA, EL PROGRESO, CRÓNICA, LA LIGA FEMENIL, and MEXICANISTA. These words represent publications, Idar’s church, her time as a volunteer nurse during the Mexican Revolution, and her work to ease the suffering of those impacted by war. The artist’s initials JPM can be seen at the far-left bottom corner of her shirt.

The American Women Quarter series is authorized by Public Law 116-330 (source: PDF link), the Circulating Collectible Coin Redesign Act of 2020, which called for the “issuance of redesigned quarters dollars emblematic of prominent American Women and Commemorating the 19th Ammendment.

The American Women Quarters follow the successful 50 State Quarters and America the Beautiful National Park Quarters programs. From 2022 to 2025, the United States Mint will issue five quarter designs per year to honor American women and their historic accomplishments.

Selecting a Winning Design

In selecting which design would be used for the 2023 Jovita Idar quarter, the Commission of Fine Arts (CFA) and the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee (CCAC) had 11 designs to choose from. The submitted designs represented Idar in a number of ways, but none were was bold and innovative as the selected design, JI-R-08.

The design was the work of United States Mint Medallic Artist John P. McGraw. McGraw joined the Mint in 2014 as a Product Design Specialist and became a Medallic Artist in March 2020. McGraw is an accomplished artist whose design credits include the Larry Doby Congressional Gold Medal (2023) and the United States Capitol Police and Those Who Protected the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021 Congressional Gold Medal (2022). In an ironic twist of fate, he also sculpted the 2020 Donald J. Trump Presidential Medal reverse.

CoinWeek Recognizes Idar Quarter with Top Award

On January 12, 2024, CoinWeek’s editors selected the Jovita Idar quarter as the Best Coin Design of 2023. CoinWeek’s selection came after reviewing more than 200 legal tender coins issued in 2023 by the leading public and private mints. The Idar quarter stood out as one of the few circulating coins in a field crowded by Non-Circulating Legal Tender issues struck using increasingly innovative technology.

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Market Data and Noteworthy Specimens

Top Population: PCGS MS-67 (125, 3/2024). NGC MS-69 (2, 3/2024). CAC None Graded (0:0 stickered:graded, 3/2024)

Each new American Women quarter release generates excitement and enthusiasm for organizations and states connected to the celebrant. For the Jovita Idar quarter, the United States Mint celebrated the coin’s launch with two events in San Antonio, Texas. On September 14, 2023, the Mint participated in a roundtable discussion moderated by University of Texas San Antonio Vice President of University Relations Teresa Niño. Participating in the discussion were two Idar family members: Rev. Dr. Elizabeth A. Lopez and Martha L. Aki, along with Gabriella González, Ph.D., Associate Professor of History at UTSA; Jennifer Herrera, Vice President of External Affairs at the National Women’s History Museum; Bishop Joel N. Martinez; and U.S. Mint Deputy Director Kristie McNally. 2,000 Jovita Idar quarters were emptied into a coin container embellished with Mexican tiles.

Two days later, the Mint participated in a special event held at the Mexican American Civil Rights Institute. Joining U.S. Mint Deputy Director Kristie McNally was Congressman Joaquin Castro (D-TX20) and United States Mint Medallic Artist John McGraw, who designed and sculpted the Jovita Idar quarter. McGraw signed coin boards for attendees. A limited number of coins were made available at both events.

In 2023, collectors had the opportunity to buy the 2023-D Jovita Idar quarter in the annual American Women Quarter Set, as part of the 2023 United States Mint Annual Uncirculated Coin Set, and in bags and roll quantities. As is standard practice, the Mint sold the quarter in each of these configurations at a premium over face value: 100 coin bags were sold for $45; rolls were sold in either two-roll (Philadelphia and Denver) sets for $40, or three-roll (Philadelphia, Denver, and San Francisco) sets for $60. The three-roll set offered the best value as the San Francisco coins were not released into circulation. The Mint set an order limit of 10 bags and three rolls per household. Additionally, the coins were distributed through normal banking channels and could have been acquired, with a little determination on the part of the collector, at face value from local banks or through commerce.

Following each new high-profile release, the third-party grading services receive a quantity of uncirculated coins from sellers looking to capitalize off of the enthusiasm of a new U.S. Mint release. While the submission rate for circulating coins does not rival those of popular collector programs like the American Silver Eagle, as of March 2024, several hundred 2023-D Idar quarters have been certified. NGC counts 746 submissions. PCGS counts 476 submissions. CAC, to date, reports no submissions.

For NGC, the typical encapsulated 2023-D Idar quarter grades MS-67. The company graded fewer than a hundred in MS-68 and two in MS-69. On January 17, 2024, an example graded NGC MS-69 (#8138120-004) sold on eBay for $645. This price would come down if more are graded at this level. In MS-68, recent eBay sales indicate the prevailing market price to be about $60.

PCGS’s grade distribution appears to be oriented one grade lower than NGC. The typical PCGS grade for encapsulated coins is MS-66, with about 25% of the coins encapsulated grading MS-67. At the present time, MS-67 is the top PCGS grade for the issue. Recent eBay sales for PCGS MS-67 coins range from $80 to $120.

Uncirculated examples in raw form have sold recently on eBay for about $1.50 per coin—unopened bags for $25 to $30.

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Design

Obverse:

The obverse depicts a portrait of George Washington originally composed and 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 John Flanagan design.

Reverse:

Based on a famous photo of Idar, the reverse depicts her from the chest up and with hands clasped. Within her body are inscriptions representing some of her greatest accomplishments and the newspapers for which she wrote.

The inscriptions are “MEXICAN AMERICAN RIGHTS,” “TEACHER,” “JOVITA IDAR,” “NURSE,” “EVOLUCIÓN,” “ASTREA,” “EL HERALDO CRISTIANO,” “LA CRUZ BLANCA,” “JOURNALIST,” “LA CRÓNICA,” “EL PROGRESO,” “LA LIGA FEMENIL MEXICANISTA,” “QUARTER DOLLAR,” “E PLURIBUS UNUM,” and “UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.”

Edge:

The edge of the 2023-D Jovita Idar quarter is reeded.

Coin Specifications

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