By Charles Morgan and Hubert Walker for CoinWeek Notes ….
The Anna Might Wong American Girls Quarter was launched on October 25, 2022, the fifth coin within the collection and the fifth coin within the 20-coin American Girls Quarters program’s first yr. Licensed by Public Law 116-330 (PDF link), the collection started in 2022 and can proceed by means of 2025, with every year seeing 5 new reverse designs commemorating the achievements and legacies of traditionally and culturally vital girls. It follows the profitable 50 State Quarters and America the Lovely Nationwide Park Quarters packages and the Washington Crossing the Delaware one-year reverse sort of 2021.
Anna Might Wong – Chinese language American Hollywood Icon
Anna Might Wong (Wong Liu Tsong) was born January 3, 1905 in Los Angeles, California, to second-generation Chinese language immigrants and would go on to grow to be the primary feminine Asian American star in Hollywood. Residing in L.A. because the movement image business was transplanted to the world, Wong turned enchanted by the nickelodeons and early cinema as a younger little one–so enamored, in reality, that she was solely 11 years outdated when she created her stage title “Anna Might Wong”. She began working as a movie further as an adolescent and shortly determined to drop out of highschool to pursue performing as a occupation.
She obtained her first billing for the silent movie Bits of Life (1921) reverse Lon Chaney, and her first main function in The Toll of the Sea (1922) when she was simply 17. Her work garnered reward from critics and followers, however film studios have been averse to casting her in elements that matched her abilities resulting from her ethnicity, so Anna Might Wong was caught in supporting roles that have been often “unique” or stereotypical (i.e., the “dragon woman”). Such roles included her work in The Thief of Bagdad (1924) and Peter Pan (1924), although her performances in each have been and nonetheless are noteworthy.
Wong did, nonetheless, star in The Dragon Horse (1927), which featured Asian American actors enjoying Asian elements. However that film was funded by the Chinese language authorities and Chinese language American companies and was a uncommon instance of what could possibly be finished outdoors of the Hollywood system.
Disillusioned, and after an try to create her personal movie manufacturing firm to make films based mostly on Chinese language folklore fell by means of, Anna Might Wong left America for Europe, the place she made movies like Piccadilly (1929)–her final silent, thought by some to be her best–and The Flame of Love (1930), her first talkie. Not solely was Flame her first talkie however she recorded her dialogue in three languages: English, German, and French.
Lured again to America with the promise of higher roles, she discovered herself mistreated and misused but once more, although she by no means stopped preventing for extra correct representations of Chinese language tradition in her roles. She would carry out in Shanghai Specific (1932) starring Marlene Dietrich, arguably the height of her Hollywood profession.
Nonetheless, Wong continued to battle prejudice and stereotypes, discovering roles in small-budget B-movies that offered the dignity and problem so typically lacking from the status items. She additionally appeared on tv and the stage. Anna Might Wong died on February 3, 1961.
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Market Knowledge and Noteworthy Specimens
Collectors have proven extra curiosity within the American Girls Quarters collection than is likely to be anticipated for one more spherical of multi-year altering reverses. A part of the attraction could also be that these designs depict individuals as an alternative of landscapes or buildings, however the girls featured on their respective quarters even have fascinating tales and the designs have typically been extremely modern.
The Mint started transport 2022-P and 2022-D Anna Might Wong Quarters to banks on October 24, with the general public having the ability to acquire rolls of cash someday in late October or early November. In any other case, the Mint made Anna Might Wong Quarter product choices out there for buy on October 25, the official day of launch. These merchandise included 100-coin baggage of uncirculated enterprise strike quarters (P or D), which have been offered for $40.00 every ($43.10 in 2024 inflation-adjusted {dollars}); a two-roll set consisting of 1 roll every from Philadelphia and Denver for a complete of 80 cash, which offered for $36.00 ($38.79 adjusted); and a three-roll set of P-, D-, and S-mint quarters, which offered for $54.00 ($58.18 adjusted).
On the time of publication in November 2024, NGC stories a complete of 1,120 grading occasions. There are three top-pop MS69 items and 146 cash graded MS68. The Mint State grade with the best inhabitants is 67, with 604 reported.
As for PCGS, there are 449 complete grading occasions reported for the 2022-P Anna Might Wong Quarter, all in Mint State. Nearly all of the PCGS census is available in at MS66 (200), however there are 117 reported on the high pop of MS67.
CAC Grading has neither stickered nor licensed any examples of the 2022-D Anna Might Wong Quarter.
Uncooked, uncirculated cash have offered just lately for a mean of $1.50 on eBay. Cash with errors, regardless of how trivial, often promote for more cash.
Prime Inhabitants: 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 Girls – 2022 label (#1828).
- PCGS MS67: eBay, September 25, 2024, Lot 386565870213 – $39.95. First Day of Situation label.
- NGC MS67: eBay, August 31, 2024, Lot 186655080094 – $2.25. American Girls – 2022 label (#1828).
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Design
Obverse:
As an alternative of a model of John Flanagan’s bust of George Washington that has been on the entrance of the quarter since 1932, the frequent obverse of all American Girls Quarters depicts a portrait of Washington initially sculpted by Laura Gardin Fraser to mark Washington’s 2 hundredth birthday. Although her work was a advisable design for the 1932 quarter, then-Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon in the end chosen the acquainted Flanagan design.
Reverse:
The reverse incorporates a close-up of Anna Might Wong’s face as she appeared in her heyday of the late Twenties to early ’30s, her chin resting on her elegant left hand. To the left is her title ANNA MAY WONG in three traces. Surrounding the central motif is a marquee signal, replete with dots that resemble gentle bulbs. Working clockwise alongside the highest of the marquee is the legend UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. The denomination QUARTER DOLLAR is beneath Ms. Wong, and in a separate line beneath that’s the motto E PLURIBUS UNUM.
Mint Inventive Infusion Program artist Emily Damstra created the design; her initials ESD are positioned on the left of the inside house of the coin. Mint Medallic Artist John P. McGraw sculpted the design; his initials JPM are discovered on Anna Might Wong’s hand.
Under is a video from the United States Mint discussing the 2022-P American Girls Anna Might Wong Quarter:
Edge:
The sting of the 2022-P Anna Might Wong Quarter is reeded with 119 reeds.
Designers
Laura Gardin Fraser was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1889. After receiving an training on the Columbia College and later on the Artwork College students League of New York, the place she studied beneath 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 changed John Flanagan’s long-running portrait (submitted in the identical competitors) in the course of the American Girls Quarters Program.
Emily Damstra has labored as a contract science illustrator in quite a lot of media. She has a Masters in Positive Arts in Science Illustration from the College of Michigan and has designed a number of cash for the Royal Canadian Mint (View Designer’s Profile).
John P. McGraw graduated from Rutgers College Camden and labored as a sculptor at Carolfi Studios in Philadelphia earlier than becoming a member of the Mint in 2014. He turned an official Medallic Artist in 2020.
Coin Specs
| Nation: | United States of America |
| 12 months of Situation: | 2022 |
| Denomination: | Quarter Greenback (25 Cents USD) |
| Mintmark: | P (Philadelphia) |
| Mintage: | 226,800,000 |
| Alloy: | Outer layers of .750 copper, .250 nickel bonded to pure copper internal core |
| Weight: | 5.67 g |
| Diameter: | 24.26 mm |
| Edge: | Reeded |
| OBV Designer: | Laura Gardin Fraser |
| REV Designer: | Emily Damstra | John P. McGraw |
| High quality: | Enterprise Strike |
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